The Pebble and the Penguin AU Crossover CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER TWO : A PEBBLE FROM THE SKY

The fair maiden in blue reappeared in a higher place. A place filled with a white, albeit dimmed, golden light. Clouds  were everywhere and dark, orangy-golden street lamps. The sky was dark and starry, just like she liked them. Clouds were reaching endlessly higher and higher and up there, the white and golden light shone brighter brighter.

As she walked (almost floating), angels playing music, reading or simply resting, bidded her some warm ‘’Good evening, Lady of the Wishing Star.’’. Some even ask her ‘’How was your night?’’, to which she answered : ‘’Very nice, thank you. Has any of you seen Sir Gabriel?’’

Gabriel flew up to the great, silver gates that sheilded his Master from all the other areas of Heaven. His Lord would, sometimes come out and survey his kingdom, but behind these gates would he prefer to stay, in order to watch over all of His Creation.

Gabriel knocked. ‘’My Lord? Someone wishes to see you in person. She is one of your Astral Fairies. May I let her in?’’

First, there was nothing. Then, a low, loud rumble was heard as the big gates opened.

‘’Approach, faithful Astral Fairy.’’

The blond-haired fairy did so. She walked towards her Master with reverence. There He was…His form was that of a huge bubble of light, whose roots interconnected with all of Heaven and beyond. She did a deep curtsy.

‘’Ah. Celene, Astral Fairy of Wishes. What brings you here?’’

‘’My Lord, I come to ask for permission to grant a wish. The person I hope to help is named Hubbie. He is in much need of our help. For you see, my Lord, he is deeply in love with Marina. But he does not have any pebble to give to her as a wedding proposal.’’

The bubble showed the face of the penguin.

‘’Ah, Hubbie. Yes…I remember him. He is the only son of Hyacinthe. A penguin born by your miracle, isn’t that right, Celene?’’

‘’Yes. I am eternally grateful for your permission on Hyacinthe’s wish.’’, she bowed deeply.

‘’And I know Marina, too…Such a kind soul that sees beyond surface…She has My Blessing...I have seen how she feels about Hubbie…’’

Celene held her breath.

‘’Asking for permission wasn’t necessary. I allow you to help him…However, the stone he so desire should not come from your magic, Celene. Something is on its way to Hubbie. Something that will change his life, forever.’’

Celene, knowing she could not change the way God planned the world, simply asked : ‘’And what will it be, my Lord?’’

There was a pause, then, she heard His voice :

‘’All I can say to you is that, when this shall be over, he will TRULY be ready to be her husband.’’, He then turned to Gabriel, ‘’Go announce the arrival of Celene to Haritha. And tell her that she has the duty to make a magic stone out of the rock of her planet.’’

Haritha was also an Astral Fairy at the service of Good. Her domain was different, though. She was the Lady of Emeraud and Divination. So, imagine her confusion when she was asked by God Himself to make a stone out of the emerald rock of her planet. She complied, nevertheless, happy to be of service to her dear friend, Celene. But, since she was curious as to what Hubbie looked like, she convinced her to let her deliver the pebble.

‘’La la, la la la, la dee dee dum…’’

Hubbie, having regained some courage from wishing on a  star, was humming to himself as he had restarted his search for a new pebble. He might still have a chance if he looked under his ‘’special hill’’, where he used to go with his mother. She had left him one or two years ago to try and find out where his father went. All he had left of her was her yellow scarf he always wore, now. She promised she would be back, one day…

He brushed the thoughts aside as the humming became singing :

‘’Now and forever, I’ll show her I care, I’ll find her the rarest st-stone. And maybe, if the pebble is-‘’, He suddenly stopped and gasped in stupor. A bright star…no a meteorite was heading straight towards where he stood…and it shone with a bright green colour.

He finally snapped out of it and ducked, hoping to avoid any impact. The meteorite wooshed through the atmosphere and crashed on the ground in a bright yellow-green explosion. Then, it all morphed into a thin, young lady with pale, transparent green hair and a simple dress. She looked much younger than Celene, but had wisdom and  a soul-seeing aura in her eyes. She held unto something hidden in her hands.

Hubbie panted as it took him a few minutes to muster the nerves to get up. He looked up to see if anything else was coming, then turned around.

He gasped, again as he beholded an even bigger surprise. Right in front of him stood…a human…a green human…Half of him wanted to run away but the other wouldn’t let him twitch a single muscle. He could only watch the strange apparation with his jaw hanging low…

‘’Fear not, Hubbie…I come in peace…’’

Her voice was soft, almost like a whisper.

‘’W…Wh-wh-who are y-y-y-you?’’, Hubbie’s stutter was stronger than ever.

She slowly, slowly walked towards him, ‘’…Haritha…’’

Hubbie just blinked as she was soon just three steps away from him.

‘’I believe you wished upon a wishing star, tonight. Did you?’’

Hubbie could only nod.

‘’Well, your prayer has been answered…My friend, Celene, the Lady of Wishes sent me to you.’’, Haritha said, smiling a happy-for-you, calm smile.

‘’La…Lady…of Wishes?’’, Hubbie couldn’t believe his eyes and his hearing.

‘’Yes. I believe you love a certain Marina, don’t you?’’

‘’How d-d-do you know?’’

‘’Celene told me. She watches over every dreamer from her star and is always happy to make their dreams come true. And tonight, she heard you.And this I carved for you.’’, she then opened her hands to reveal her treasure : a morsel of glowing emerald.

‘’Oh…Wow!’’, exclaimed Hubbie. He’d never seen anything like this on the beach.

‘’With this stone, Marina is sure to never forget you, for all who looks at it will see the person they love the most.’’, she extended her hands for him to take it.

Hubbie looked into the stone that now rested in his palms. And sure enough, the face of Marina appeared, smiling sweetly at him. ‘’Oh, my…it’s perfect.’’, he whispered in awe…

‘’Keep it safe…You don’t know where it might take you…Present it to her with your love…Farewell, Hubbie…’’

With those words, she vannished into green ribbons that ascended towards the sky. Soon, the green light was gone.

Hubbie kept his blue eyes up for a long moment, then his eyes filled with tears of gratitude, letting out a mix between a crying and a laughing.

‘’Thank you…Thank you…’’

He then kissed the face of Marina that still smiled at the heart of the emerald…