This probably has about 5% in common with the video that I set out to make but I'm just glad the file didn't get corrupted like I thought it had right after I finished it.
Today is day 26. The prompt for today is Lights and I chose King Radius of Solaria(Stella's dad) as the character. Mostly just so I could put him in one of those Christmas dresses that look like an actual tree.
Summary: Radius is startled by a visit from Luna that brings to the forefront not only feelings on his recent trauma of being under Cassandra's control but also the lingering heartbreak from their divorce.
Two weeks before the end of the year but I have finally come out with a couple/characters (from Winx) that I haven't written before. A little gift for the holidays to me and, hopefully, the anon who requested this on tumblr (if they're still around).
Read on AO3 | FFN
"Look at me."
Her voice reached him from the sky above, from somewhere beyond the clouds and atmosphere of his realm. He could tame the wind and ride it in pursuit of her but what would be the point? She had left only space – for a spell to engulf his mind, for the ache inside his heart.
Radius shivered at the stroke to his neck. A gentle one, not the magic clawing and burning into his flesh to carve out enough of him and root itself in its place. It was the soft touch of moonlight to his eyelids, to his eyes, to guide him through his otherwise pitch-black room.
It was Luna.
He flinched away, her warmth evaporating from his skin as if it'd never been there, only a figment of his memory. A hallucination his mind had conjured to soothe itself. It was even more unreliable than he'd realized.
She was unchanged from the last time he'd seen her in his bed. Her blonde hair glowed with reflected light even in the dead of night. He couldn't distinguish the blue of her eyes from the darkness cloaking her, had to rely only on her tender–too tender–touch to reveal her intentions. The familiar scent of peaches lingered around her like the ghost of summers long gone when all day he'd tremble with anticipation of the sunset and all the hours after that they'd spent watching the stars and laughing, kissing and sharing their souls.
Instead of reaching for him again, Luna let her hand fall into her lap. "It's me."
It had to be. A dream would be meant to ensnare him, wouldn't sting like salt in his wounds, like tears in his eyes.
Radius threw the covers off, exposing himself further to the cold of his bedroom. It was his only chance to shuffle far enough away from her, to maneuver around her body perched on the edge of his bed and find the hard stability of the floor under his feet.
"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" his eyes didn't leave her.
The alarm in his voice made sense. He had only just been released from the vicious grip of another on his mind. Finding an unexpected guest in his personal space would be concerning on a good day.
Luna sighed as if his wariness weighed on her conscience. "You have loyal friends at your service."
He did. Many had tried to talk him out of Cassandra's will when they hadn't known it'd been forced upon him. They had stood up for his daughter. They had looked out for him as much as his hijacked authority over them had allowed them.
It didn't explain Luna's presence in his chamber. They should have known better than to let her in. She wasn't their queen anymore. She couldn't stroll into his bedchamber as she pleased as if she still had some kind of power, some influence over him.
He raised his chin, squared his shoulders. A crown had made no difference to her–whether on his head or on hers–but he was still her king. She had to respect that, had to be reminded of it.
"What do you want?"
She shifted awkwardly as if she were struggling to slip out of bed as the mattress dipped under her to accommodate her weight. As if she'd never done it before.
He should have called for his guards. They would have helped, kindly escorted her off the premises. She was still his daughter's mother despite all else.
His voice was stuck in his throat.
Once she was on her feet, Luna smoothed invisible creases out of her skirt, almost sifting through them to find her words. "I came to see how you're doing."
"In the middle of the night?"
"I was worried."
She didn't meet his eyes in the grave silence that followed. She didn't let him find something in her to soothe the tidal wave of fury choking him.
"You could have followed the news outlets." He clenched his fists, "Why go through the trouble to visit now?"
Luna crossed her arms over her chest, gaze finally moving to him again. "How long did it take to save you? Despite everyone trying to help you – the king of Solaria?"
Radius bit his tongue. Just in time to sever the questions bursting forth like blood from a wound. The downpour would have drowned them both if her memories were anything like his own.
She would have said if she so wished, if her words hadn't been too precious for her to share them with her king, with her husband.
He gritted his teeth. She'd made her choices. Her mind had always been closed off to him but then she'd gone and done the same with her heart. She had to live with that now.
"None of this would have happened if you'd been here. You're too late." He intertwined his fingers behind his back, forcing as much nonchalance as he could in his voice without suffocating from it, "You've seen me. You can go now."
His nails dug into his own flesh, leaving painful crescents on display where her eyes would find them if he allowed her the opportunity. The preferable option to the bruises he'd force her to nurse away for days if he grabbed her and sank his fingers into her like he wanted to. He was supposed to be free at last.
Luna stared at him like she could see right to the marrow of his bones. The way she used to look at him when he promised they would retire to their chambers after this one last dance or that he'd end his audience early to make it to Stella's tea party. He'd often kissed her just to stop her from dragging his soul out of him to where she wanted him once she walked away.
"You've all but thrown me out," she tilted her head like she was challenging him.
"You'd think you'd take the hint!" he turned his back on her, though he wasn't holding his breath in expectation of the door announcing her departure.
His heart hammered in his chest, its loudness only drowned out by his gratefulness for the darkness swallowing his chamber. It had to be the one thing hiding the redness of his face, the veins bulging in his neck and forehead.
Why couldn't she leave him alone? She'd made it clear she didn't want to be involved in his life, that it was too much for her.
"What has to happen for you to ask for the help you need?" Drenched in pity, her voice gnawed at his throat – as if one of his guard dogs had gone mad and attacked him.
He whipped around, his growl booming in the quiet room, "I don't need you!"
Luna didn't budge. He was the one wincing when the sound echoed off the walls like a slap, a whiplash.
"Stella needed you. And instead she had to fight to save you all alone!"
His face twisted in a snarl. "Now you're concerned with mothering her? After you abandoned her?"
He was all but frothing at the mouth, feral like even the indignity of being made into a puppet on strings hadn't made him. She pushed his buttons with her mere presence, with the way she sauntered through his room like it were the most natural thing in the world, like she were home when she'd fled from it–from him–relieved to put it all behind her.
She was in his face, much faster than he'd expected she could move.
He had to dig his heels in to stand his ground, to keep from yielding even a single inch to her.
She was so close he could taste her breath. The faintest scent of sour cherries tickled his nose. As if she were nothing more than a ghost in front of him, her body ready to let his hand pass right through were he to try touching her. As if he needed her there to be haunted by her.
Her features were set in a hardness that was most unfamiliar to him. "You can push against me all you want, Radius."
The way she said his name was agony. Before it had been like the name of a new constellation she'd found on the sky, a promise of infinitely more beautiful things to come. Now there was only... past in it, the death of their love.
"Just don't forget that if no one else makes you take responsibility for the hurt you've caused her, I will," her voice was sharper than a finger poking him in the chest, sliced directly through his heart instead.
She would be right to. Stella's Princess Ball had been ruined long before both of them had been cursed. He had single-handedly crushed all the joy she'd radiated like a sun upon her arrival. He'd taken her special day and made it all about him. And then her life had become a race against time to save him.
Her hands holding his had been so soothing, a long craved relief. For both of them. It'd taken them hours to let go, both afraid the other would melt away in the dreamscape and they'd wake up back in their nightmare.
"Have you seen her yet?"
Luna's face in front of him was yet another proof that it was over. Stella could use the same certainty.
Luna's eyes dropped to his mouth. To avoid his gaze, not for any other reason.
"I came to see you first."
He didn't need to hear the rustle of fabric to know she was fidgeting with her cape. That tone was seared into his bones, quiet and raspy, jagged from the edge of resignation digging at her pulse point like a blade. It was the same one with which she'd killed their marriage.
Instead of soft his voice just came out broken, "Look at me."
She did, her eyes wide with trepidation like two full moons.
His fists unclenched, then clenched again. He didn't know what to do with his hands.
He cleared his throat. "You will have to face her. She needs you too."
The faint smile she gave him died on her lips so quickly that it gave the impression of a grimace instead.
She nodded. "I know."
He blinked and she was gone, already halfway to the door.
Her name was lodged in his throat like an ice cube that would never melt. He couldn't get it out just like he no longer dared close his eyes to soak up the sunlight caressing his face. The calming warmth always turned into a phantom stroke of her hand that sent his heart into palpitations.
-
I didn't find a viable way to include this in the story so I'll say it here - my headcanon with this fic is that Cassandra definitely did something to keep Luna entrapped. I really love the idea of imprisoning Luna in some kind of liminal space that essentially was a representation of Radius' free will and Luna remained there until Stella broke the spell on Radius and freed him from Cassandra's control. Of course, Cassandra was only able to pull this off because there still be unresolved feelings there. ;)
For me, the scene when Stella saved her father from countess Cassandra was the most iconic scene of all Winx Club seasons of all time 💖✨ I loved Stella before, but she was so ICONIC in that episode, I loved her even more after that 😍💖
Iconic Stella quotes:
„I see you‘re all ready to take my place, Chimera, but I’m afraid you and your scepter will never be up to the test!“
