Convulsion

❀ ʙᴏɴᴜꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ: ʙɪᴛᴛᴇʀꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ❀

[Hi everyone! Thank you so much for 5k reads!!! <3 This will be the last bonus chapter uploaded for a while, but I hope you enjoy it! It's basically chapter twenty eight, but all from Steve's perspective ;D]

Steven (Set on the day of Lily's Head Guardian Ceremony)

"Wait!" With a jolt I sit up, sweat dripping down my face as I throw my hands out in front of me. It takes me a bit to realize, but there's nothing there. There's nothing there. I shut my eyes, running a hand through my hair and flopping back on my bed. I wince at the pain that shoots through my chest, but I ignore it. I probably deserve it anyway.

Why did I dream of her? Of Celeste?

Clenching my teeth I sit back up, studying my room. I'm still in the Health Center. I'm okay. I'm okay, but... she's gone.

Celeste is gone.

Why is she gone? She was there in my dream, and we were talking. We were talking about the simple things, about her family and about the next tasks we had to carry out as Guardians. But then she stopped talking. We stopped talking. And then she was fading, screaming. I chased after her but she was gone, and then there was blood, and, and...

This time I sit up in my bed a bit more carefully, moving my hand over the wound in my chest. It's healed, thanks to the Caregivers' magic and medicine, but it's still painful. The scars are still there. Brittany and Celeste are still in my head.

I wish I could have talked to her one more time, that I could have sorted out what happened between us. But it's too late for wishes. There's nothing I can do about her death. She was taken from us, and we've been left behind. Now Luna is on her own... but apparently she's a Guardian now. So is Vashti. And... Lily is here. Lily.

"Ay, dream boy, I heard you yelling. You good?" My eyes roam over the drawers, desks, and bookshelves spread throughout the room until they land on the sliding door to the side where Amaryllis is standing. And... wow. She's wearing a deep blue dress that trails down to her feet and her curly black hair is hanging free around her face, the blue and purple tips resting on her shoulders. She looks stunning and fierce, but her gaze only makes me want to hide under the blankets as she stares. What's she doing here?

"Yeah... yeah. I'm fine. But why are you all dressed up?" I mutter, glancing down at the blue robes I'm wearing and then looking back to her.

"You're joking. Don't tell me you forgot," she pauses, and when I don't respond she rolls her eyes. She strides over to the side of my bed, tossing me the medicine the Caregivers left me on my table. "Steve. Your little flower is going to be crowned in a few hours..." Amaryllis keeps on talking but I've already thrown the blankets on my bed away from me, chugging the medicine from the glass bottles I've been assigned and scrambling to make my way to the bathroom.

Lily's ceremony! It's today. That's today. It's today?

"She's not my little flower," I exclaim, fumbling around the washroom and shutting the thin door behind me. There's a suit on the counter by the sink, and although I don't know who left it there for me, I'm glad they did. A Head Guardian Ceremony is always a big deal in the Realm of Ni'ilxus, no matter who it's for. And this time it's for someone who wasn't even heard of until last week, so I'm sure it will have a large turnout. Either way, people everywhere will be watching. They'll all be there to see Lily.

Washing my face I do my best to style my hair, stripping off my robes and putting on the gray suit as carefully as I can. The scar on my chest where Brittany stabbed me is still pretty visible, and so are the large bruises from when the Golem hit me. At least they'll be covered up.