Last True Believers Stand
Everyone snapped out of their shock when the screen played again.
Fei Fei runs up to Bungee’s basket. She picks up Bungee and brings her up against her heart.
“It’s you and me, Bungee. We’re the last true believers.”
Bungee looks at Fei Fei with big eyes.
A small object drops from somewhere and bounces off Fei Fei’s head.
“Ah!” Fei Fei cried and clenched her head.
Another thing bops her on the head.
“Ow!”
Chin is sitting in the rafters, bouncing a ping-pong ball with a paddle and pops it at her.
“Ugh, not really in the mood!” Fei Fei exasperatedly sighed.
Chin hangs by his knees from the rafters, startling Fei Fei causing her to gasp.
“Know what I am? A BAT!” Chin boasted and still hangs like a bat.
“Yeah, a dingbat.” Fei Fei deadpanned.
Some chortled.
“Well, I hope you like dingbats, because you’re going to see a whole lot more of me!” Chin said excitedly but he falls off the rafters and hits the ground with a thud.
Most of the people laughed in amusement.
“Whoa! Ugh.” But he gets up unphased.
“Not if I can help it.” Fei Fei said under her breath and still held Bungee who stared at Chin with a doubtful expression.
“Haven’t you heard? We’re gonna be brother and sister!” Fei Fei freezes. Horrified.
Most of the theater room blinks in surprise.
“What?”
“My mom and your dad are getting mar-”
“Don’t say it! Don’t!” Fei Fei harshly cut his sentence off with a dread expression on her face.
Fei Fei turns and starts up the stairs. Mrs. Zhong comes out of a nearby hallway as Chin runs in the opposite direction.
“Hi, Fei Fei.”
“Hello.” Fei Fei searched for a way to escape from her by the stairs.
Fei Fei stops and slowly turns toward Mrs. Zhong.
“I didn’t want you to miss dessert.” Mrs. Zhong said and seemed to hold something in her hands while smiling at Fei Fei.
“Oh, um…” Fei Fei shifted on her feet.
“I saved you a special mooncake from my hometown... without dates.” Mrs. Zhong hands Fei Fei a small tin box that looks like a mini lunchbox.
“Uh... Thank you.” Fei Fei said politely.
Suddenly, we see Chin run behind Mrs. Zhong towards the kitchen area.
“NO BARRIERS! Uuugh!” Chin bellowed. There is a crash followed by a ping-pong ball bouncing into the hallway.
“Crazy kid.” Someone whispered to their friends who snorted at it.
“Oh, Chin can be rambunctious at times. But after a while you get used to him.” Mrs. Zhong said to Fei Fei with an amused expression on her face and rolled her eyes.
Fei Fei nods. Auntie calls out from the other room.
“Zhong! Get over here before I kick everyone’s butt at Mahjong.” Auntie Mei called out from outside.
“Oh ho, yes. We’ll see!” Mrs. Zhong chuckled and winked at Fei Fei.
Mrs. Zhong walks back into the kitchen to rejoin the festivities. Fei Fei flees up the stairs to her room.
-FEI FEI’S ROOM-
Holding the present, Fei Fei rushes into her bedroom, and slams the door behind her.
“‘Get used to him?’ I’ll never get used to him! What’s so “special” about your mooncake?” Fei Fei started ranting to Bungee who was sitting on the bed.
Fei Fei tosses it into her desk drawer and slams the drawer.
“I don’t want IT... Urgh! And I don’t want YOU.”
Fei Fei flops down on her bed, holding her Chang’e doll close to her heart.
“Urgh. I just want things back the way they were,” Fei Fei sighed, “He used to believe in Chang’e! He said she was absolutely real! But now he’s changed.” Fei Fei huff quietly.
“If baba could only believe again, he would never marry that woman. He-he would remember everything. He would remember you.” With a pained sigh, Fei Fei takes her mother’s scarf off her bedpost and pulls it over her head.
She closes her eyes, smelling the scent of her Mom on the scarf, remembering everything good... Opening her eyes, moonlight glows through the fabric.
Painted Chang’e face glows by moonlight making it look ethereal.
Some of the room who look at each other and look back to the screen. While Dumbledore who has bright twinkles in his eyes.
Through Fei Fei’s open window, a beam of moonlight begins to shine into her room while Fei Fei pulls the scarf down to see Bungee stares at the moonbeam and jumps out of Fei Fei’s window.
Fei Fei runs to her window and calls after the rabbit.
“Don’t follow the light.” Sirius Black cried and shook his head in playful fashion.
“Bungee!”
She runs downstairs. Grabbing her sneakers, she goes out the front door to chase after Bungee.
Fei Fei races through the town and down an alley filled with hanging laundry, looking for Bungee.
To see hanging leaves, Bungee leads Fei Fei to her special spot at the dock. Bungee approaches the edge of the dock where a crane sits perched on a post.
Fei Fei approaches the crane. As she gets closer, the crane takes off into flight.
The moon pokes out from behind the clouds. Looking out over the water...
“Mama... Why is this happening?” Fei Fei asked to not in particular and stare at the moon. She kneels on the edge of the dock, reflecting.
Fei Fei started to sing to herself, unknowingly to her, someone was listening to her right now.
“I LOOK UP IN THE HEAVENS
The marauders and others who want to sing along which most people look at them in amusement, Charles Potter, want to along with others to sing, about to open his mouth to sing aloud but Dorea Potter whacked his head to make him pout at his wife who gave a look. Dorea doesn't want to hear his off-key voice to embarrass himself and James.
AND I CAN SEE YOUR FACE... YOUR GENTLE EYES IN MOONLIGHT I FEEL YOUR WARM EMBRACE”
Fei Fei hugs herself tightly.
“WE WERE THE PERFECT FAMILY
BABA YOU AND ME
I NEVER THOUGHT THAT HE’D FIND SOMEONE NEW
AND NOT REMEMBER YOU”
Bungee cuddles up next to Fei Fei on the dock.
“OF ALL THE TALES YOU TOLD ME
CHANG’E WAS WHAT I LOVED
SHE LOST HER PRECIOUS HOUYI
THEN FLOATED UP ABOVE
SHE WAITS FOR HIM FOREVER
SO BABA, WHY CAN’T HE?
IF I CAN PROVE TO HIM HER TALE IS TRUE
HE’LL REMEMBER YOU.”
She gently pushes a lotus flower in the water and stand on her back at the moon
“I know Chang’e is up there. But how can I prove it? She’s 384,400 kilometers away. What am I supposed to do?” Fei Fei questioned herself and blink at the crane swooping in front of her and upward to the sky.
Ravenclaw students raised their eyebrows at exact numbers to the moon.
Fei Fei watches the crane fly in front of the moon, itself little shine mysteriously on Fei Fei and Bungee seemed to answer her question. The answer did to light her idea and started singing again.
Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled.
“FLY AWAY
CHANG’E ARE YOU CALLING TO ME?
FLY AWAY
ARE YOU UP THERE LOOKING AT ME?
CAN YOU SEE WHAT NOBODY SEES?
CAN YOU HEAR MY VOICE UP ON THE MOON?
FLY AWAY
WISH I HAD THE WINGS TO TAKE ME
HIGH AWAY
TO A PLACE WHERE NO ONE DOUBTS ME AND I’D WALK
ON A LUNAR DUNE!
COULD I FIND A WAY TO GET THERE SOON? BUILD A ROCKET TO THE MOON?”
She climbed the willow tree nearby, looking up at the moon, and giving the impression of being the moon smiled approvingly at Fei Fei with a little shine cast on her again.
Children look at their friends excitedly. Some adults who have muggle knowledge were surprised.
------
Fei Fei rides her bike through the city and sings loudly while in the background the moon still shines and it watches over her.
“I WOULD FLY BEYOND THE STARS
TO KEEP MY FAMILY
IF I DID I’D SHOW MY FATHER LOVE LASTS ALL ETERNITY
I WOULD PROVE TRUTH’S IN THE HEART NOT ONLY WHAT YOU SEE
MAKE HIM SEE!”
----
Fei Fei climbs the stairs to the top of the tallest pagoda in her town.
“COULD I DISCOVER A WAY TO BREAK THROUGH?
WHAT COULD A GIRL LIKE ME POSSIBLY DO BUILD ME A ROCKET –
IMAGINE THE VIEW
OH HOW I WANT TO –
FLY AWAY
CHANG’E I AM COMING TO YOU HIGH AWAY
BABA, I WILL PROVE IT TO YOU I’LL BE FREE OF ALL GRAVITY
HEY, CHANG’E I’M GONNA BE THERE SOON
IN MY ROCKET TO THE MOON!” She cried at the moon with her hand reaching out to out of the screen, to the moon.
The marauders stand and dramatically bow to everyone.
The tower that Fei Fei stands on cross while she reached out dissolves to an image of a rocket.
A tablet, Fei Fei watches a video of a rocket being launched into space and then swipes through pictures of various rockets and a lunar rover.
She tacks a self portrait on top of the Chang’e poster in her room, making it look like they are taking a selfie.
“Bungee, we’re gonna prove she’s real!”
She takes a string and tacks it from a drawing of a rocket to a poster of the moon.
Papers fill Fei Fei’s bedroom walls with equations. A small hand drawn rocket flies across the notes on her wall and crashes. Another flies completely off the paper, and takes a nosedive. The third flies over the drawing of her which ducks and then shares a look with the poster of Chang’e.
A time lapse shows her drinking boba while writing out equations, eating top ramen while reading a thick book, crumpling paper while various take-out boxes build up all around her.
She rips down a bunch of notes off her wall with a sigh.
At her computer she reads a complex text. Overwhelmed, she bangs her head down on the keyboard with a sigh, causing gibberish and the letter “G” to populate the entire blank page.
She flops on her bed over and over, groaning each and every time.
Studious students understand her feelings.
------
Father and Mrs. Zhong are working on something in the kitchen. Fei Fei goes up but avoids Mrs. Zhong, to Father, showing him her tablet and asks. While Mrs. Zhong had an unidentified expression but focused on the dough.
“Baba, uh... I-is it okay if I buy some things for this... science project?”
Father approves the purchase on the tablet, “Um... Sure.”
“Thanks!”
Chin leans in to see, but Fei Fei pulls it away from him.
------
On her computer Fei Fei fills up her shopping cart with all sorts of things, a space helmet, moon boots, screws, etc.
------
A delivery man comes to the door at Fei Fei’s house with a giant stack of packages, “Here you go.” The delivery man said.
The muggleborns who raised their brows in shock and envy for having money to order many things but were a little scared to do it because their parents would whip their butts by the belt. Some butts were clutched to remember their punishments or bad trouble. (A/N: My mom, born in the 80s, told me about this when she was kid, her parents did it because she was in bad trouble so I stayed away from getting in trouble for years, never once.)
Father is confused because he scratched his hair.
“Uh, I didn’t order anything.” Father said confusedly with Mrs. Zhong while Chin looked at the packages.
Fei Fei runs up and grabs them before he can say anything, “Thank you.”
A pizza man comes with pizza - before he can say anything Fei Fei comes back outside and grabs the box.
“Thank you!”
Fei Fei runs inside. Father, Mrs. Zhong and Chin all lean in the door frame watching her.
------
She opens one of the boxes and starts assembling a small rocket in her room.
The marauders look at each other with an unholy gleam in their eyes.
Death has sensed it and looks over to them and looks away. Nope. He recalled his time with his mistress before she went to reincarnation as Chang’e.
------
At the field.
Fei Fei goes about building her rocket. Building something under the cover of night.
She launches an experimental rocket, it explodes.
Another experiment, it also explodes and she’s knocked over with a thud.
“Oof!”
Another experimental rocket. Fei Fei presses a button, but nothing happens. Bungee throws a rock at it and the rocket launches into the sky. It looks like it works, then it slowly falls back down to the ground... and explodes in a cloud of dust, knocking her over again.
------
Fei Fei flops on her bed. She rolls herself up in her blankets like a burrito, groaning.
------
Fei Fei sits in a classroom. Her teacher is giving a lecture on poetry. She is working on the same spaceship drawing.
“...by one of the most famous poets in the Tang and Song Dynasty...it will be part of your quiz…” Teacher lectured in his classroom.
Frustrated, Fei Fei groans, scribbling out the drawing when a hand takes it from her.
“Something you want to share with us, Fei Fei?” The teacher picks up her drawing with contempt.
“No.” Fei Fei meekly said and looked humiliated.
“Today you are Number 1 in class, but maybe tomorrow you’ll be Number 30. There’s no doodling allowed.” Teacher said with a flat tone as he confiscated the spaceship drawing and took it up on the wall. It rotates direction and is directly in line with a poster of the Mag lev Train.
Fei Fei making an exciting connection between the Mag Lev and her sideways rocket.
“Seems she found the solution for her rocket.” Lily commented.
“MAGNETIC LEVITATION
FRICTIONAL CESSATION THAT’S THE KEY
F IS FORCE OF COURSE AND G IS ALWAYS GRAVITY”
Fei Fei walks out of the classroom door...
------
Into her bedroom, and jump into her chair. She dances around her chair, equations floating around her.
“POWER - LIFT – DURATION
GYRO NAVIGATION – THAT COULD BE... THE THRUSTERS ARE STARTING, I’LL BE DEPARTING SOON…”
A small drawing of a rocket on a track takes off and crashes into the poster of the moon on her wall.
Using tracing paper she covers the rocket with a bunny design, inspired by Bungee.
------
She rides town with an old car door tied to her bike with a bunch of parts in tow.
“CANDLES MAKE A PAPER LANTERN FLY –
SO TELL ME WHY CAN’T I!”
------
Fei Fei gathers pieces to build her rocket, an old laundry machine door, various scraps, etc.
------
She maps out her design on graph paper. Fei Fei places all of the scraps and pieces out methodically.
------
She constructs a large rabbit lantern to conceal her rocket.
“ASTRONAUTS THEY RISE ABOVE THE SEAS
SO WHY NOT ME!
WITH EACH PIECE THE PUZZLE TURNS MY HOPE INTO REALITY LOOK AND SEE.”
------
She continues constructing the large rabbit lantern.
------
She tows the giant rabbit behind her bike passing through town.
------
Fei Fei pulls the rabbit onto the track she’s built at the mag lev site. She attaches magnets along the track.
------
Fei Fei grabs her backpack off her bed.
Fei Fei grabs her moon boots and heads out the front door. Chin pokes his head out from around the corner, curiously watching her.
Some people look at each other and recall their young siblings, feel their guts Chin would follow Fei Fei, same thing their young siblings would do.
------
She rips the papier-mâché off the rocket’s main window, gets into her rocket and buckles in Bungee to her seat and fits a helmet onto her head.
“I CAN HAVE LIFT OFF AT
ONE MORE DEGREE
COUNT DOWN IS STARTING AND SOON THEY WILL SEE
I THINK I’VE GOT IT –
I’M GOING TO BE FREE
SO HOLD ON BUNGEE!
FLY AWAY
CHANG’E I AM COMING TO YOU HIGH AWAY
BABA, I WILL PROVE IT TO YOU I’LL BE FREE OF ALL GRAVITY!”
She takes out a family photo of Father, Mother and herself and places it on the dash of the rocket as motivation.
She flicks a few switches in her cockpit and secures her helmet.
“HEY CHANG’E
I’M GONNA BE THERE SOON IN MY ROCKET TO THE MOON!”
She raises her hand and hits the launch button. Then this scene blacked out to show a black screen.
Most of the people blinked and kept watching.
But the black screen remains blank.
“Why does the screen stay blank?” Lucius Malfoy grumbled and his nose stuck up.
“Look at the corner.” Lily remarked.
People look to the corner to see “UNKNOWN LOCATION.”
------
“UNKNOWN LOCATION” showed up on the corner of the screen then slowly lightened up to show the long painted nails feminine hand petting the white fur while the words faded out.
“Soon. Soon everything will be in place.” The unknown female voice gleefully said.
The scene of her hand petting the white fur faded out then the intense green eyes glowed flashed in the black screen then faded out.
Some take back and are shocked by the little peek of Chang’e color eyes.