The guide dog rested his head on Niall Guthrie's shaking leg, his wet nose pressed against him. Niall quickly ran his hand over Zephyr's soft ears flickering in the growing wind, ruffling the hair of everyone below.
His feet swung on the ledge overseeing the bonfire he was so familiar with. He knew every log around the large flame, the stories behind the scorch marks, and the origin of the still-standing vine dome above the house now belonging to his Uncle Rodger and partner Nerry.
Tyrill was his home, the people were his people, and he'd been here all his life - besides the odd adventures his girlfriend took him on - but tonight he always felt alienated.
It was New Year's Eve. Like usual, he stayed away from the commotion surrounding the holiday, and listened to the noise instead of watching the fireworks; he couldn't see their splendour being legally blind. All fireworks to him were giant blurry flares of colour like fuzzy dice hanging in a car.
The Labrador whined against him, curling into Niall. He sighed, ruffling Zephyr's ears more, but the nerves his guide dog could sense had nothing to do with his impaired vision tonight.
The alienation, this time, was deliberate. Only a few people knew why he was nervous; his parents and brother, his best friend, Jack Garcia-Slater, and Lily's aunt. His brother Nick kept grinning at him when no one was looking, and Haidan always had his nods of encouragement before teasing him. It was what best friends were for in the end.
He was familiar with nerves. Niall was born with albinism, and as a result, had been almost completely blind since birth. He was nervous on his first day in public that he could remember. He was nervous when he bit the bullet and began talking to other kids in Tyrill. The first time he flew. The first time he secretly learned to snowboard, not to mention the beginnings of his gift as a nymph and all his self-taught teachings.
This New Year's Eve though, he wanted to rip out his stomach and give it to Jack to create a new voodoo doll of him, if only to get him to stop the fidgeting of his leg and the feeling of ants under his skin.
Niall jumped when the sharp whistle twisted up from the bonfire and exploded in the sky as a shower of bright blue. He smiled hearing his best friend scold someone for standing too close to the strapped fireworks.
Haidan was adamant that this night wouldn't go wrong. It was his first time hosting by himself a New Year's Eve fireworks show as a pyrotechnics expert. Even if Niall hadn't chosen this night to put pressure on him for it to be perfect, it had to be for his own professional reputation. His stress accidentally sparked another bound firework in place, everyone blinking at the sudden flare of purple in their eyes.
"Everything's fine!" Haidan yelled loudly. Niall shook his head at how wired he was. "It's all going to plan!"
Haidan and Niall had quickly become best friends after the Marlin's Bay tsunami seven years ago. They'd learned the full extent of their abilities together, and the full temper of Jack Garcia-Slater when they'd accidentally set fire to the forest...for the fourth time.
She'd punished them harshly - she'd forced the two of them to come into Nova High School and lead a five hour lecture on 'Control: Reckless to More Reckless'.
Jack had listened to every fumbled word even though she was the only audience member either awake or not on their phone. Niall often wondered how she'd managed to organise it within twenty-four hours, but eventually had to accept Jack was cunning beyond what he'd originally thought.
She was the new Principal of Nova High, after all.
Niall knew Jack had studied to become a teacher when the aftermath of the tsunami had washed away. Haidan had told him she'd discovered she 'had a passion for telling people what to do' when the four of them decided to travel.
The phoenix and the witch had flown to Abu Dhabi to see Haidan's father - another phoenix, they'd discovered when they met him - while Lily and Niall had gone to Egypt. They'd learned a fair amount from him but Lily had messaged Jack to let her know she was planning another trip to Puerto Rico, and she needed the witch and the phoenix.
Lily's old fairy teacher had contacts around the world. Through seven of them, Aisha Marlowe learned how to heal a nymph - Lily wanted to see what she could learn as well.
Niall suspected Lily knew more than she said, his girlfriend was ever a mystery, but when the four of them travelled the first year after the tsunami they all became closer. Inseparable. It was the year Jack realised she wanted to teach. Haidan decided to take his mechanic apprenticeship and combine it with pyrotechnics, merging his abilities and his career.
He and Lily fell in love. Niall took a leaf out of Jack's book and began teaching Braille at Nova High School part time, and kept up his snowboarding in Tyrill - twisting his abilities into tricks on the slopes was the greatest gift he taught himself, and an illusion of normalcy he clung to tightly.
Lily, his darling girlfriend, moved to Tyrill and rented a flat with her aunt. Niall watched Olivia Haphern expand and update their doctor surgery, and her partner Jacob, the Shade Supernova before Lily Morgan, wipe the supernatural memories from the humans living in the ski village - a consequence of Cody's chatter.
Niall sighed, his feet swinging gently when Zephyr nestled deeper into his side. Getting a guide dog became a necessity when he began travelling. Using his abilities to guide him would have shocked all the humans - a boy flying next to an aeroplane instead of sitting beside them? While Niall thought it would be funny, Lily suggested getting a guide dog instead.
Zephyr had been at his side for over five years and the Labrador loved running with the wind as much as he did. The dog loved jumping in snow, sticking his head out of car windows, and most of all, grated cheese.
Niall was ruffling Zephyr's ears when he felt the cool presence of his girlfriend walking up behind him. He couldn't help the smile on his face when he heard Lily panting from the steep climb, and the gentle touch she placed on his arm when she sat down next to him, her legs tucked up beneath her so they weren't swinging over the edge.
Zephyr's tail wagged faster when Lily joined them. Niall turned to his girlfriend, twisting his hand through hers.
"Hey," Lily's smile was soft. "Why are you so clammy?"
"Just nervous, I guess."
"For Haidan's show?"
Niall blinked. "Yep. Of course. Why else?" He cleared his throat to try and budge the bundle of nerves laughing around his shaking voice. "It's his big day."
Lily's gaze turned to the crowd below them. Niall could only imagine the detail she saw; the drinks being poured, couples huddling closer in the night chill, a panicked phoenix setting up his New Year's Eve firework show.
"Is Jack watching everything with a drink in hand?" Niall joked.
"She's actually holding a plate of food this time," Lily said, her red wavy hair unbound. "I think she's waiting for Haidan to blow something up, or waiting for her own opportunity to."
"Well," Niall wondered, rolling up the sleeves of his jumper so the wind could soothe his sweating skin. "At least we're not in Cuba again. I can't handle surprises like that."
Lily burst into laughter. "You're still going on about the little piñata?"
"That piñata was not little!"
"It was a sweet, little piñata horse, Niall!"
"It was not a sweet little piñata, Haidan put fireworks in it!" Niall chuckled as Lily leaned back in hysterics. "Someone could have warned me, I needed to change my pants!"
Lily held his hand tightly as they both remembered their Cuba adventure. "Is that what you've been doing up here? Reminiscing?"
Niall gently ruffled Zephyr's ears. "Yeah. Remember Puerto Rico?"
Lily shivered. "Mercy had a very different definition of 'meet for dinner'."
"Lily, Mercy's a chupacabra. Why did you expect her to think anything other than having fresh meat for dinner?"
"I can't forget how fresh the meat was." Lily inched closer to Niall. "I won't look at goats the same way again."
Niall put his arm around Lily's shoulders, her raised scars pushing against his skin while he twisted her red hair between his fingers. "How about Egypt?"
"Our first trip?" She rested her head against him. "I loved meeting the sphinxes. Luxor was beautiful."
"I think I still have sand in my shoes!" Niall joked, smiling as Lily laughed. Her smile eased the nerves crawling under his skin but the weight in his pocket was heavier.
"Meeting the madre de aguas in Cuba was when you told me you loved me." Niall whispered into Lily's flushed cheeks. "Do you remember when I told you I loved you? On the trip before Cuba?"
"We're not talking about Russia."
"The bereginyas were great," Niall's sheepish grin only widened at Lily's narrowed eyes. "And the blizzard?"
"The bereginyas taught us both a lot." Lily said tightly.
"We were stuck for three days in that cabin-"
"How about Ireland?" Lily interrupted. Niall threw his head back in laughter, not blind to how aflame his own cheeks were at the antics they got up to in Russia. "The kelpies there? Or the selkies in Scotland? Loch Ness was beautiful."
"And Skellig Michael was..?" Niall pushed and Lily waved a finger at him. "Come on, I was sick for one day and I miss out on an epic secret adventure with kelpies?"
"It's your fault you had food poisoning!"
"It's their fault for giving us all raw haggis!" Niall shook his head as his stomach twisted at the memory. Haidan, Jack, and Niall still couldn't look at pictures of haggis without gagging. "I swear they gave it to us deliberately so they had you alone."
Lily was unusually quiet. Before Niall could comment, her whisper made its way to his ears. "I'm glad you three didn't have food poisoning in Colombia."
Niall fell silent at the memory of la madremonte, the Mother Mountain, that challenged Lily as Supernova and failed catastrophically. It was the last trip they went on together. He hadn't known fear for a while, but the Mother Mountain terrified him as much as haggis, piñatas, and rogue werewolves built like wrestlers called Yuric.
"We didn't do much there, that was mostly you." Niall held his girlfriend tightly. It was also the trip he realised how much he didn't want to lose Lily, which led to him buying the item in his pocket.
Lily sighed, tucking a loose strand Niall had tugged free behind her ear. "I just did what Jack would have done."
"Lily, sweetheart, you flattened the mountain."
"You caused a cyclone in Cuba!"
"That was because a piñata exploded in my face!" Niall raised an eyebrow. "You caused a blizzard in Russia!"
"We're not talking about Russia."
Niall laughed, gently kissing her temple. "You're Russian to stop this conversation, aren't you?"
Lily glared at him. "Do you want to be alone up here? I will walk down and kiss Jack at midnight instead of you."
Niall held onto her tightly. "Please stay," he hoped Lily didn't hear his voice shake as his hand went off Zephyr's ears and into his pocket. "Please?"
His girlfriend hesitated at the wide-eyed expression on his face but didn't move, her hand resting on his thigh. "Are you alright Niall? I haven't seen you this nervous since we got on the plane to Egypt."
Niall's hand clamped around the box in his pocket. "I actually wanted to-"
"Here we go!" Haidan yelled. All of Tyrill fell silent as he held a tablet of switches and buttons in his hand, moving to Jack's side. "We have a minute to midnight!"
Tyrill began to chant and suddenly the sweat formed on Niall's brow, his fingers slipping over the velvet casing holding the precious item within. His brother told him it would be romantic to ask before midnight, he'd also printed a script but Haidan pointed out it was an exact copy of his favourite film The Proposal, a story about a fake proposal to keep someone in the country, which wasn't the declaration Niall was going for.
"Niall?" Lily's dark eyes searched her boyfriend's panicked face. "What's going on?"
He couldn't stop hearing the countdown, now at half-way. His heart raced, the wind curling around his toes. Niall's fingers clutched the box in his hand.
"I...I've been thinking about a lot of things." Niall voiced, clearing his throat. "After Colombia, I couldn't help thinking how I almost lost you."
"You didn't lose me." Lily brought his arm off her scarred shoulders and clutched his hand tightly. "You're not going to lose me. I'm still the Supernova, I'm still Lily, I'm still here, we're both here at Haidan's big day."
Niall clutched her tightly. "How about another big day?"
"What?" Lily frowned, beginning to over think. Clouds started to roll in over the mountain as Niall's panicked expression didn't ease her own building nerves. "What are you saying Niall?"
"I mean, uh..." Niall pulled the box out of his pocket. Zephyr immediately shoved his nose into Niall's hand, sniffing for treats. "No, Zephyr, wait!"
The dog nudged for the box and the nymph flinched, scrambling as the box fell from his hand and tumbling over the cliff.
Niall's eyes were shining the pale colour of pearls. His hand was outstretched, frozen, as the box hovered in the air before them - the wind catching it before it toppled into someone's glass below.
Lily's breath caught. Niall felt like his lungs were going to explode. "Is...Is that what I think it is?" She whispered.
Niall wet his lips. "What do you think it is? It's a box, right? Just a little box..." He could imagine his brother slamming his head against a wall hearing this, Haidan with his head in his hands, and Jack shouting at him to stop waffling and get to the point.
"If that's a key ring, I'm pushing you off this cliff." Lily said suddenly. Niall laughed, curling his fingers so the box fluttered closer. Lily's cheeks flushed, the clouds twisting, knowing her threat was empty because he could fly.
Niall grabbed the box out of the air as Lily stammered for more threats. Her eyes were watering. A fork of lighting snapped through the air and made hairs at the back of Niall's neck stand up.
"If it's a snow globe...if that's a pencil, Niall I swear I'm moving to Australia, and, and I'll-"
Niall opened the box and Lily stopped talking. Her dark eyes latched onto the lone ring sparkling under the stars. The dark blue Australian opal marbled with glimmering gold lightning flanked by two diamonds on a band of silver. "I hope it's in there," Niall said suddenly. "Is it there? I'm guessing by your silence the ring's there...I hope Nick didn't swap it out with a piece of gum or something."
"Oh right," Niall shifted onto one knee as Tyrill's residents counted down from ten. "I should be on one knee. Right. Okay. Lily?"
"That's not a key ring." Lily whispered.
"...Did you want a key ring?"
"No!" Lily's eyes watered, her hands trembling, as she realised why Niall was so nervous.
"Well I'm sure there's a snow globe or a pencil somewhere around here..." He laughed, unable to stop himself from reaching out and tucking Lily's hair behind her ear.
The Supernova trembled, crying, sitting up on her knees. "Stop it," She laughed, wiping her tears aside. Her dark eyes shone silver as another stroke of lightning arced over them.
Niall wet his lips again as he gazed at the woman he was in love with. He'd seen her grow from a shy, anxious teenager with an unfathomable power into a brave, anxious woman with the world in her hands like a rare black pearl.
The past seven years at her side had been the craziest, busiest, and most loving years he'd known. From travelling to the sphinx scholars in Luxor; or embarking to churning Irish seas with kelpies and stormy Scottish towns with selkies; the beautiful time they shared intimately in Russia; Lily learning about water supernaturals with the madre de aduas in Cuba while Niall discovered he was terrified of piñatas; Mercy the chupacabra in Puerto Rico; or their last adventure against the Mother Mountain in Colombia.
Or the more mundane things in Tyrill together, like Lily meeting his parents Jim and Alyssa for the first time. Teaching Lily to snowboard - and eventually setting her on skis - and hearing her squeal going down the bunny slope. Showing her more of his favourite spots in Tyrill, picnics on rooftops in the summer months, going back to his beloved waterfall.
Watching Lily start work alongside Cody and his father with the Tyrill council to manage tourism. Lily opened up the new waterfall off Mount Tyrill she created from the tsunami; the Mouth of the Sky. Lily climbed up the ranks over the years and recently became Mayor Guthrie's official successor.
"Lily Nerida Morgan," His eyes never left hers. Supernova. Future Mayor. She could have a hundred titles but she would forever be his Lily. "Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Lily kissed him as Haidan lit the fireworks, and the new year erupted in an explosion of life and colour. Sizzling sparks soared through the stars with lightning dancing around them. Snowflakes tumbled from the clouds, the wind swirling around the faces of the couples kissing for the new year, and for more.
As Lily drew back, their eyes dimming back to their natural colours, Niall felt for her hand and waved with the box. "I'm guessing that's a yes?"
"That's a yes," Lily hiccuped, wiping tears off her face. "I'm glad it's not a pencil."
"That would have been funny though." Niall grinned, and motioned to the box. "I don't want to drop it again, can-"
"Yes, give me this," Lily gently took the ring and it was a snug fit. It felt foreign at first but over the years she would never be able to imagine it not on her hand. "Oh Niall, it's beautiful!"
"Your aunt helped," Niall admitted, patting Zephyr who happily wedged himself between them. "I wanted something about your family in there, and she said your mum had an opal on her ring, so I chose the opal as a centre instead of a diamond for you too."
Lily embraced Niall tightly, holding onto the man she loved more and more each day. "I love you." She whispered into his ear, glimpsing the small scar on his temple from when he was knocked out while held hostage between rogue werewolves and a spontaneous tsunami.
"I love you." Niall kissed her forehead and, up close, looked at his fiancée. Lily still had the constellation of freckles on her face, the soft somber brown eyes, like when they first met seven years ago. There was a new scar above her eyebrow from their Scotland adventure, and her cheeks had leaned out slightly over the years, but she was still the most beautiful thing he could see.
Lily looked at the ring on her finger again. "How many knew?"
"My parents, Nick, Haidan and Jack, and your aunt." Niall tapped his fingers to each person. "Oh! And Annie. She approved the dark opal because the marbling was like your lightning."
Lily stretched over Zephyr and hugged her fiancé, the two listening and watching the remainder of Haidan's firework show. It was astounding how far they'd come, how much they'd learned, and they fell more in love with each moment.
"Are you happy?" Niall asked, tucking her rebellious hair behind her ear.
The Supernova smiled, her eyes sparkling like the stars in the sky and the jewels on her hand. "I'm happy." Lily finally said, smiling up at her partner, her future, her love. The snow delicately fell on her head, once more not budging even when the frosty circlet formed.
The crown would remain for the rest of her days and beyond, her grave forever bearing a sprinkling of frost over her headstone, but Lily had more adventures to live between her engagement and her passing.
Lily would witness her world shift like an ocean in the most beautiful of ways. She'd be greeted every morning by her grandmother Nerida Haven and Rodger Guthrie walking their dogs. They began to adopt and rescue after travelling to China and tobogganing down the Great Wall, one last adventure before Nerida's body weakened with age. They had seven now but Lily's favourite was still Niall's guide dog Zephyr.
Seeing Jack and Haidan finally get together after years of tension was a relief on her sanity. They had travelled to Abu Dhabi again to visit Haidan's father while he was working and Haidan had surprised Jack to the point of speechlessness once more; by giving her a moist chocolate and caramel cupcake with dark fudge icing, next to a ring.
"I want to add one more ring to this finger." Haidan had said to Jack, who was so surprised by the ring and cupcake she forgot to say anything for a few minutes.
Lily and Niall's wedding was first. Held in Tyrill, Lily walked down the aisle towards her future husband in a gown of white and lace, pearls adorning her body, and her hair loose with a clasp of blue. Freida had given her the bouquet of white and violet lilies she had by her front door ever since Lily walked into the Slater household for the first time - ever the psychic, it seemed.
The wedding introduced more couples together; Alpha Alice of Trawalla, Andrew's little sister, had taken over the pack a few years into Andrew's leadership. He and his partner, Laura, took a step back when Alice became the most dominant wolf - a trait she'd been showing since she was slamming doors in his face.
Alice had turned up with some of her pack, and Ryan looked longingly at Lily the whole time. He'd suggested a gift in the form of a donation to the village's ski slopes but Alice shut it down. She wanted to do something personal; Lily had saved her life twice and brought light to her days when she only knew dark grief. Alice's gift was one of her old artworks of her and Lily together when she was younger.
Alice's life became brighter again when she saw Annie Guthrie for the first time.
Niall Morgan-Guthrie watched his other sister Cay and her girlfriend Cody few years later tie the knot, another powerful woman married into his family. Claire and Karen also married in a sweet but glamorous ceremony. Nick and Caroline bonded over his primary school embarrassment later in life, and Niall teased his brother about 'Sweet Caroline' for the rest of their lives together.
The craziest wedding was for Haidan and Jacinta Tariq. Fireworks and flowers, a buffet of food, the festivities went for a whole week. Haidan was initially worried when he introduced Jack to his family, she wasn't religious and was supernatural, but his mother loved her and the bouquets she brought, praising her flower choices, and ever mystified because they never wilted despite her poor attempts at watering.
Lily Morgan-Guthrie became Mayor of Tyrill after Niall's father Jim stepped down. While she was still the Supernova there were a few times she had to pull that rank - when rogues stirred or when supernaturals from all over the world poked the hornets nest - but mostly when her kids began growing up.
Her and Niall had a son first; Patrick Douglas Morgan-Guthrie. He was water-blessed and took his abilities to the ocean and learned to surf. Their youngest, Delia Rio, was a nymph like her father and became his best snowboarding student, despite her poor vision. She blended in amongst the slopes with her long white hair and stark violet eyes.
As the two grew up, so did Jack and Haidan's children. Jasper Tariq took after his mother with her witch ancestry but his little sister Nisha was just as fiery as her father. Jack and Haidan spent most of their kids childhood sorting the fallout from pranks their kids would pull; from Nisha setting fire to Jasper's things, to Jasper using vines and roots to hold things higher than Nisha could reach.
The four of them watched their kids grow up fondly and Lily Morgan-Guthrie passed on all she knew, especially her ancestry's secret to her son Patrick, before gently slipping away like the tide.
The world knew when the Supernova passed away. The skies fell silent, the stars dimmed, and all the waters were calm. In their old age it was only a matter of time, and Lily knew watching her kids grow up and age while her skin rippled and her hair turn grey was the greatest blessing she could ask for.
Jasper Tariq became the first male Supernova Witch, supported by his sister Nisha, his friend Delia, and Patrick too - the two becoming something more than friends as the years went on.
Haidan Tariq, the phoenix whose flames birth the sun, faded with the dusk, the world a little colder for a while. Niall Morgan-Guthrie hung on for as long as he could without his wife, making sure his kids were safe and happy and starting their own adventures before fluttering away to join Lily amongst the stars.
Jacinta Tariq lived on without her three best friends for a while. She dedicated the rest of her life in helping her and Lily's children, and adamant that her friend's legacy was known throughout history, and her story was written for the ages to learn. Jack spoke her name to Nova High, making sure her students never forgot whose reign changed the supernatural forever - who showed just what power was.
To stand up. To lift your chin high and fight for you and yours. To look in the mirror and be proud of the battles you've won, and the scars, while memories, were also tokens of your survival. The ability to withstand the strongest of darkness and walk away smiling towards the light again.
Her legacy would be heard for as long as there were stars in the sky. Power had a face, a name, and the occasional anxiety attack. She was a typhoon of power and tempest of strength.
A pillar of mercy and hope. A guardian to every lost, confused soul searching for who they were destined to be, not realising it was within themselves all along.
She watched over them all; Lily Morgan-Guthrie, the Supernova of the Stars.
~
Happy Birthday Lily Morgan, and to everyone who has a birthday is today! Thank you for everything. T&T was written when I was going through so much but I hope you found yourself at home here.
There's a Q&A and longer thank you in the next part :)
Much love to you all, Libby x