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Upon a Star (A Wish Rewrite)

Synopsis: On an island deep in the Mediterranean Sea stands the kingdom of Rosas. Everyone in the kingdom lives happily, believing their beloved and magical rulers- King Manuel and Queen Amaya -will make their wishes come true. In truth however, the two are collecting wishes to fuel their magic and harness power.

Not everyone is fooled however. Deep in the Uncharted Forest lies a quaint village, where people live peacefully away from the rulers. One citizen is Asha, the one person who occasionally ventures into Rosas to steal supplies and money from nobles, known to them as “The Alondra of Rosas”.

Time is running out before the King and Queen find the village, and Asha knows it. One night in desperation, Asha makes a wish on a star, and to her surprise, the star falls from the sky. The star takes the form of a young boy with magic of his own, and Asha believes with him there is still hope for her people. Joined by the star and the young Prince Flazino, Asha sets out to stop the evil rulers once and for all.

Rewrite

(🚧Work In Progress 🚧)

Chapter One: Welcome to Rosas

Chapter Two: A Humble Yet Cozy Abode

Chapter Three: Star Light, Star Bright

Chapter Four: So I Make This Wish

Chapter Five: You’re a Star!

Chapter Six: A Chance Meeting

Characters

Asha (The Alondra of Rosas)

Earendel

Prince Flazino

King Manuel

Queen Amaya

Bonus Features

Asha’s Character Arc

Character Fun Facts

Prince Flazino

The Crown Himbo, everybody

So yeah, quite a bit to say about this character. At first my plan was to just use one of the seven friends and make them the prince/princess, but as I developed the concept more I felt that none of them really fit. They won’t all be completely scrapped though. Dahlia will be kept in, and the others may have cameos, but otherwise they’re gone from the story. It wasn’t until a little later until I found out about Flazino from a deleted scene, and decided to use him since not many other people were.

Since Earendel has a different role now, I first came up with Flazino as the love interest for Asha. I decided to make him Manuel and Amaya’s son, and his character became a lot more fleshed out. He’s young man who’s very passionate about music, but due to his parents insistence on him learning magic instead, he doesn’t show that passion often. With how much Manuel and Amaya control him, he’s very reserved in general, making him seem like a cold and grumpy individual. Though around his friend Dahlia, he’s a bit more open. Being the son of THE villain power couple, a lot of his arc revolves around toxic and found family, which I’m very interested in developing. (Also I’m only just now realizing how similar he is to Miguel from Coco but let’s not worry about that-)

Flazino’s design is inspired a lot by the concept art of Abuelo Pedro above. It’s just generally the closest to what I picture Flazino looking like, minus the facial hair. I also imagine he has clothes similar to the concept art below.

Now for his backstory I cobbled together at 12 a.m.

Flazino was born to Manuel and Amaya only a few years after Manuel gained power, and was immediately put to magic lessons, despite his clear disinterest in it. (I thought about making him adopted instead, but I thought it would create a stronger arc if they were his biological parents, also Disney hasn’t made many if any biological parents THIS intentionally shitty so…)

As he grew older he found a passion for playing music, but his parents, especially Manuel, quickly snuffed it out. They told him it was a useless peasant’s wish and that he should focus on more important things.

One day met Dahlia in the kitchens as a pre-teen while he was hiding from his parents, and the two became quick friends. He talked a lot either her about things he couldn’t with many other people. Sometimes Dahlia would try and get him to talk about the king and queen, but Flazino avoided the topic as much as he possibly could. (As a side note, Dahlia isn’t a cook in this rewrite, just a regular servant)

When he turned eighteen, Manuel actually didn’t take Flazino’s wish, but he also wouldn’t grant it. This became Manuel’s main source of manipulation towards his son, threatening to take his wish away or worse if he set a foot out of line.

Now the whole trio is done, which means we’ll move onto the villains very soon. I’ll admit now that they aren’t too different from what most people have been doing, but I think it will be a nice refresher from all this new character stuff.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more.

Queen Amaya

The Audacity of Dis Bitch- Part 2

I’ll admit up front, I was the least interested when it came to developing Amaya as a villain. Not that I’m disinterested in doing so. It’s just that there are so many other characters to explore, and I don’t know what I could really offer with my reinterpretation that’s new or interesting. So, I just decided to have fun and make an unabashedly evil gal that harkens back to villains like Maleficent.

Amaya is very manipulative like Manuel, but she’s much more subtle about it. While Manuel mainly focuses on keeping up appearances, Amaya focuses on keeping things behind the scenes running smoothly. When she’s not helping run the government, she’s often alone in her study brewing potions. The study is off-limits to everyone except her husband and son, so rumors float around about what actually goes on in there. In reality she just really likes her privacy but hey that’s not as fun. It’s also heavily debated amongst citizens whether or not Amaya actually loves Manuel. She seems to generally like him, but isn’t as passionate about his as he is for her. She does at least love her son, in her own kinda messed up way.

I took a very similar approach to this redesign, using the deleted storyboards and concept art of Mother Gothel above as a basis for Amaya’s appearance. The facial features and the hairstyle fit better for her in this rewrite. Her clothing would stay the same, though I would probably make it have a closer color pallets to Manuel’s clothes.

Amaya also has a cat, still named Charo. I debated a lot on whether to use a cat or a lynx. I ultimately decided on a cat as a little nod to Lucifer in Cinderella. He’s your typical pampered pet that messes with the protagonists at every turn (especially Flazino).

And let’s wrap this up with a much simpler backstory then Manuel’s:

Amaya and her family moved from Northern Spain to Rosas during the early days of King Enrique, when she was very young. They left to get away from accusations against Amaya’s father and the poverty of their village.

The next several years of Amaya’s life were fairly uneventful. She lived in a poorer part of the city and helped her mother run an apothecary. This peaked her interest in potions. She studied them extensively and began to hone her skills. She was bullied by her peers for her poor status and was called a witch for her interests, which left a sour taste in her mind.

One day she was leaving a wish ceremony when she tripped over a step. As she collected her things a young man came and helped her. They made a little small talk and Amaya continued on, thinking nothing of it.

A few days later Amaya was in the woods gathering ingredients when she found the young man riding a horse through the forest. He stopped when he saw her and tried to make conversation. Amaya was very hesitant at first, but when the man revealed himself to be Prince Manual himself, she became a lot more intrigued.

And from there the rest is history, Amaya gets married a few years later, becomes queen, has a son, and helps Manuel in his quest for power.

And that’s all for the characters, which means I have no reason to procrastinate on the story and songs ;-;. I’ll try to post little bits and pieces of stuff until the everything is finished, but no promises.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more.

Chapter One: Welcome to Rosas

We begin our story with Disney’s 100th anniversary logo.

It fades to black, before panning across a study and zooming onto a book sitting on a desk. The book has no title, instead having a large star on the cover.

The book flips open and shows a page depicting a night sky, filled with glowing people where the stars should be. A castle rests in the middle on a bed of clouds. A man begins to narrate.

Once upon a time, there was a realm far far away, known as the Celestial Realm. There lived stars, beings who possessed great magical power and could do amazing things.

The page flips showing some stars on one side of the page, while humans are on the other. One of each is in the middle of the page, shaking hands.

For a long time, the stars traveled between their realm and our realm, helping us achieve many great things and granting people their hearts desires.

We pan to the next page, showing the humans and stars again, but this time the humans look more like evil creatures, with black silhouettes that only show two green eyes and a mouth like a jack-o-lantern. The stars meanwhile are cowering away from the humans.

But it did not last. The humans became more and more greedy, and demanded more from the stars. Some even tried to take the magic of the stars for themselves

The page flips, showing the stars high in the sky and looking down at a city below. The humans look distraught, praying and begging to the stars. In the middle of the stars is a tall figure with a glowing dress and a wand.

The stars fled back to their realm and stayed there, using their magic to watch over the humans. The people below were of course upset, and begged the stars to come back. Their queen came down for the final time and told them “Listen well. Only when you have proven yourselves to be brave, true, and unselfish creatures will we come back to your aid.” And since that day, the stars remained in the sky, watching and waiting.

We fade to black, where a title appears: “Upon a Star”. •◌•◌•★•◌•◌•

We fade back in, panning across the city of Rosas.

The camera focuses in on a young woman dressed like a musketeer sitting on a rooftop. On one side of her there’s a large empty sack, and on the other a genet nibbles a berry. “Look at that Valentino. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and all is calm. The perfect day to steal stuff, wouldn’t you agree?” The girl asks the genet, who chitters and licks his paws. I’m glad.” She grabs the sack and slides down the roof, Valentino following her.

(via unknown) We cut to a different location, now at the docks. A young man paces, rubbing his temples. He has shoulder-length dark brown hair. His clothes are plain, apart from his dark blue tunic and cape.

“I can’t believe he put me on tour duty again! Just because I was a few minutes late to one of his lessons…” He sighs. “Let’s just get this over with.” He stops and straightens up as he see’s three adults, a couple teenagers, and a child disembarking a ship. He clears his throat and waves to them. “Ah, Hello! Hola, Shalom, Salam! Welcome to Rosas, where your all wishes can come true! I’m Flazino, and I’ll be your guide!”

🎵 Welcome to Rosas 🎵

Flazino

Group

Citizens

Welcome to Rosas Come along, come this way Where the greatest creations are all on display There's no other place as full of surprise Where your dreams and your reality can collide

(Flazino guides the group through the city gates, making grand gestures around the city. They pass by a man operating a large machine similar to the one Belle’s father had in Beauty and the Beast, and stare in awe.)

You wanna touch the sky? Or to feel more spry? Make your dreams come true? Well, hey, do we have good news for you

(They pass by a man on stilts, then an older woman dancing with the grace and ease of someone much younger. More citizens start to appear as Flazino gives the group a wink. The stock characters other citizens start to dance)

'Cause here in the city of Rosas You can turn all your wanting to wishing No what-ifs and no wonders Oh, here in the city of Rosas  It's unlikely that you'll be unhappy With so much to discover

(Flazino dances in the center of it all as he sings. The group watch with delight, a couple even joining in. Flazino twirls the little girl, who giggles.)

A home for me (me) For you (you) And all of us (us) The city of Rosas

(Flazino points to people in the group and leads them over to a puppet show similar to the one in the movie)

So like, we have this king name Manuel And years ago he saved us with a spell

(A puppet that looks like the king holds up a scepter, warding off several evil-looking puppets.)

With lightning for hands and eyes that can glow No, no, no, I'm totally kidding! But he is powerful He’s just like us with a twist So much power, so much to list!

(He holds up his hands creepily at the little girl, who gasps in fear. He quickly stops and ruffles her hair playfully.)

A magic swish And there you have it, poof, there's your wish! Ooh and, hey did I mention when you turn eighteen? You get to give your wish in a ceremony And he keeps them safe, every wish he acquires  And once a month he grants someone's greatest desire  It could be you someday, or you, or even you Ooh, who could wait?

(A citizen puppet gives puppet Manuel a blue ball, then jumps around happily. Flazino points to three of the citizens on “you”. A couple glance at each other with doubt.)

(A man) Does it hurt? (The child) Do you cry? Oh, no, and you won't even miss it when you say "goodbye"

(Flazino looks a little hesitant at first as they ask, but brushes it off with a little wave and smile.)

'Cause here in the city of Rosas  You can turn all your wanting to wishing No what-ifs and no wonders Oh, here in the city of Rosas It's unlikely that you'll be unhappy With so much to discover

(The group, looking a little more reassured and confident, join in on the singing and dancing. Flazino looks relieved.)

A home for me (me) For you (you) And all of us (us) The city of Rosas

(Everyone dances until the end of the song, where Flazino and several citizens strike a pose on the steps outside the courtyard of the castle, similarly to the movie.)

The citizens clap and cheer, chatting amongst themselves with delight. Flazino is used to it by now. He’s seen it all before, the sheer delight before the inevitable happens. His smile falters a little as he overhears some of the group.

“Wow, this place is amazing!”

“I wonder if the king would grant my wish?”

“This is such a magical place to live!”

The little girl smile and tugs at presumably her mother’s sleeve. “I can’t wait to give my wish to the king someday!” Flazino fakes a chuckle at this comment.

A loud commotion comes from a ways down the road, though it’s hard to see what’s going on through the crowd. The tour group perks up at this with alarm. “What was that?” One woman asks.

Flazino waves a hand dismissively. “Probably just a spooked horse or something. Why don’t we go see the artisan district?” He quickly ushers the group away to a different part of the city.

We cut back to the girl from earlier, who’s running across a roof and holding a small sack. She stops a the edge of the roof and turns around, where we see several guards stalking toward her. “Stop right their Alondra!”

The girl, who's name is really Asha, crosses her arms and chuckles. “Ah, hey there O’Donohue. Good to see you again, you look great. Is that a new helmet?”

“Your sweet-talking won’t save you now. You have committed crimes against Rosas and her people. Pay for your crimes or suffer the consequences.” The guard grumbles.

“Or I could do this.” Asha quickly grabs a clothesline and cuts it, swinging down to the street below. She lands seamlessly on her feet and looks up. “You won’t get away that easily, thief!” The guard shouts from above. “Ha, I already have!” Asha calls back before quickly running down the street. After a minute she stops and looks around, clutching the bag.

A couple other women are standing by washing clothes. One looks up at Asha and chuckles. “Getting into trouble a little early, aren’t we Alondra?”

Asha puts her hand to her chest in pretend shock. “Who, me? I would never.” There’s more shouting from up ahead, and we see around ten guards now barreling towards Asha. She clears her throat and draws a rapier from its hilt. “Excuse me ladies.”

Asha tucks the bag into her belt and rushes at the guards. The guards draw their swords as well. Asha takes on one guard at a time, dispatching each with ease. She parries their blows and sends one into a wall. Another trips and fall so into a wheelbarrow that Asha kicks away. Yet another is knocked down by a barrel Asha rolls at him. She smugly smiles as she faces the sixth guard in her path. Another grabs her. “I got her Simon! I’ll-“ he’s cut short as Valentino lands on his head, spinning his helmet.

“Good timing, Val.” Asha says, wriggling free. Valentino chitters and jumps onto her shoulder as they run off again. The remaining four guards pursue. Residents watch from the sides of the street or from their windows as Asha looks around for a quick escape. She notices a cart filled with bags of gold outside a wealthy-looking house. She bolts to it and tips it over, letting gold spill into the middle of the street.

Immediately citizens rush over to the gold, grabbing whatever they can. The guards try and push through, but once they make it to the front, Asha is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, her voice comes from above, on a rooftop. “Good citizens, accept this gift from the Alondra of Rosas!” She waves her hat and bows before making her escape. Valentino waves as well before following. The citizens cheer and clap. “I’ll get you one day, Alondra! I’ll get you if it’s the last thing I do!” The first guard, O’Donohue, calls.

We cut back to Asha, a little later in the day now. She’s in an abandoned house, carefully placing clothing and food in the large bag from earlier. “That should do it. Now, why don’t we watch a little show before we take this home?” She asks Valentino. He nods happily and skitters up a flight of stairs onto a balcony. Asha follows and leans against the railing, looking down at the courtyard of the castle below. The entire kingdom is gathered, talking quietly amongst themselves as the sun begins to set. The trumpets begin to play. There’s a huge flash of light and the crowd cheers loudly. King Manuel himself jumps out to the front of the stage.

“HELLOOOO ROSAS!”

The crowd whoops and hollers, though it sounds somewhat dry. Nevertheless, they continue to clap and cheer. Queen Amaya and steps out from the main door, making short curtsy’s before seating herself near the back of the stage. She looks perfectly content and even a little bored. We cut back briefly to Asha, who sneers and rolls her eyes at the king.

Manuel smiles, drinking in the attention, beaming and twirling his staff. “Thank you, thank you. You’re too kind.” He waves his hand for silence. The crowd immediately goes quiet. “Now, first things first, we have two new residents ready to give their wishes.” Two people from the earlier tour walk up the steps. “Elena and Stefan, welcome to Rosas. You’ll love it here.” Manuel holds his hands out. “Now make your wishes.” The two close their eyes right, and a glowing emanates from their chests. They take a deep breath and two wish bubbles appear. The new residents blink, suddenly looking deeply saddened, though they try to hide with smiles. “Don’t worry. They’ll be perfectly safe.” Manuel says. He waves his staff and sends the wishes up to his tower. The two nod and slowly walk back down the steps. “Forget without regret!” The crowd chants.

We cut again to Asha, who watches the king with a mixture of disgust and sadness. “Now, who is ready to have their wish granted?” Manuel shouts. The crowd cheers again with more sincerity. “Now, I have thought very hard about who’s wish will be granted tonight, and I have decided on someone who has waited long enough.” Murmurs ripple through he crowd. “So it is with great pleasure, that I announce Anya Ivanov will have her wish granted tonight.”

The crowd applauds, and Anya gasps. “Did- did I hear that correctly? I- Oh my goodness!” She bounds up the steps, her face filled with relief and joy.

Manuel chuckles. He waves his staff again. “Anya, it if my great pleasure to grant your wish to sow the most beautiful dresses in all the land.” A pair of scissors magically appears in front of Anya. She smiles and holds the scissors gently. She looks happy but also somewhat…underwhelmed. As though she hadn’t expected her wish to be that simple.

The crowd cheers for Anya as she leaves the stage. Manuel waves and twirls his staff one more time, sending more sparks out across the courtyard. “Thank you all for coming. Get home safely and have a good evening.”

Asha stretches. “Well, that’s our cue buddy.” Valentino hops onto her shoulders and the two make their way back down the stairs, grabbing the sack of goods. We cut to the edge of the kingdom, where Asha is loading the sack up onto a black horse. It snorts and paws the ground. “Oh, don’t be like that Maximus. If you behave this time, I might let you have an extra scoop of oats, or even a special treat.” The horse’s ears swivel at this and it straightens up. “That’s what I thought.” Asha chuckles. She climbs onto Maximus’s back and rides off into the woods.

Author’s Notes

I looked up. So much sword terminology. Only to use two or three specific words. The life of a writer can be quite a tedious one, I must say.

But anyways, it’s finally here! I hope you all enjoyed this first glimpse into Rosas. My main goal with this chapter was to mainly set up some characters, setting, and lore. As well as hint at later themes. I’m pretty happy with how everything turned out. Except for the action scene. It’s not my strong suit, and I think I bit off a little more then I could chew for the first chapter. But I’m relatively okay with it.

I originally planned to rewrite “Dream a Little Harder” from Twisted and use it as the opening song. Ultimately however, I wasn’t sure how to fit in all of the information needed, so I just stuck with a Welcome to Rosas rewrite. If anyone wants to use that idea for their rewrite however, I would really encourage it. Especially since Twisted is a parody musical of Aladdin (and a lot better then that movie in my opinion but I digress).

I had a lot of fun figuring out Flazino and Asha’s personalities. I can tell Asha is going to be fun to write. She does have that “cool guy” persona, but there’s still a glimpse at empathy for others that might emerge more. As for Flazino, he’s kind of just some guy, but that’s why I like him. He’s someone who obviously wants to do the right thing, but doesn’t know how or even if he could. He’s actually inspired a bit by Phineas Thatch from the podcast Midst, with less of a temper.

As for the king and queen…I’ll talk about them more when the time comes. Speaking of them though, with the wishing ceremony I wanted to give a feeling of unease. Everyone is putting up a front, the people who give up their wish are saddened by it, and the lady who gets her wish is underwhelmed. It makes the audience suspicious of Manuel’s intentions and brace themselves for him to be revealed as the villain. Though that’s a story for…two or three chapters from now.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Three: Star Light, Star Bright

We’re right where we left off at the bush. A slim gray spotted cat slips out of it. We get a wider shot and see the cat is at the edge of the Hamlet. He stretches and walks out of the hamlet towards Rosas. We pan up to see the castle before fading into the royal kitchens.

The cat from before is walking through, head held high. He stops as he hears footsteps and spots Flazino walk in. The cat ducks behind a barrel. Flazino adjusts a satchel slung around his shoulders as he passes the barrel. The cat shifts from side to side before pouncing on the young man’s boot.

“GAH! CHARO YOU LITTLE-!” Flazino tries to shake the cat off of his boot before grabbing him by the collar and holding him up. “What are you even doing here? You're not allowed in the kitchens.” Charo pins his ears back and hisses.

Another pair of footsteps and a tapping sound come from nearby, and a girl around Flazino’s age using a crutch emerges from behind a door. “Flazi, is that you? Is everything alright?”

“Sí, Dahlia. Cat got my boot, that’s all.” Flazino takes Charo over to the door and sets him outside. “Now get out of here, shoo!” Charo gives Flazino a dirty look before pointing his nose to the air and walking away.

Dahlia chuckles and walks towards a line of shelves and cabinets. “What did you ever do to that cat to make him hate you so much?”

“I never did anything to him!” Flazino huffs. “He hates everyone except my mother. I say we should have named him Diablo.” He pauses before looking back up at Dahlia. “What are you doing up this late?”

“Oh, I came down here to get some ginger for tea. One of the other servant’s had a bad headache, so I offered to make some. What about you?” Dahlia glances at him sideways as she looks through a cabinet and grabs the herb.

Flazino shrugs. “Father wanted me to grab some old book from the cellar. He’s got something planned for tonight.”

“What planned?” Dahlia asks, grabbing a kettle and filling it with water before putting it over a fire.

“That’s confidential, I’m afraid. Very important sorcerer business.”

“…You don’t know, do you?”

“Well I…no. But it sounded important.”

Dahlia smiles and rolls her eyes as she continues making her tea. Flazino pauses before asking “Have you seen him this evening?” “A little earlier while I was cleaning,” Dahlia replies. “Did he look angry?” Flazino asks.

“He did seem rather peeved. I didn’t catch what he was saying though,” Dahlia says.

Flazino sighs and nods. “Okay then. Well, I shouldn't stall any longer. I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully.”

“Be careful. You know how he can be he’s angry,” Dahlia says, adjusting her crutch and watching Flazino make his way towards the door.

Flazino chuckles, sounding a little defeated. “Oh trust me, I know.” He shuts the door behind him and makes his way up the long, long staricase.

Flazino stops at the top in front of a set of double doors. Yelling comes from behind the doors, making Flazino hesitate as he reaches for the handle and pulls open a door.

Inside is the wishing chamber. Hundreds and hundreds of wishes float around the room, soft blue light pulsing from them. The roof is open, exposing the night sky. On two sides of the room there are tables littered with alchemy sets and various ingredients. Herbs, animal bones, liquids, and other strange things.

Amaya is working at one table, carefully measuring and brewing a potion while Charo sits at her side. Manuel paces on the other side of the table, running his fingers through his hair. “Maldita sea esa chica! Every time she shows up, she makes a fool of my guards, causes a scene, and disappears without a word. And the people love her for it!”

“Calm down, mi rey. It’s only one thief. We can deal with one little thief,” Amaya replies.

“Have you even been listening to what I’m saying?” Manuel snaps. “This girl is no ordinary thief. Whoever she is, she clearly takes after him. And that is the last thing I need.”

Amaya walks around the table and gently places her hand on Manuel’s cheek. “I understand dear, but don’t worry. After tonight, no one in this kingdom will dare to act out of line ever again.”

Manuel takes a deep breath and nods. “You’re right. As usual.” Amaya smiles and turns back to her potion. Manuel looks up as Flazino walks over. “Did you find it?”

“Yes, it was locked away in a case. The lock was enchanted, but I managed to break the glass.” Flazino explains, reaching into his sack and pulling out a leather-bound book. He sets it down, and we see the cover has two wolves circling a star symbol in the middle.

“Perfect,” Manuel says, grabbing the book and flipping through its pages.

“We didn’t see you at the ceremony earlier. Where were you?” Amaya asks.

Flazino tenses. “Uh, Samson escaped from his pen again. You know how skittish he can be.” Amaya looks at Flazino with suspicion, but doesn’t reply. Flazino glances at Manuel. “What are we doing up here so late anyways?”

Manuel ignores his son, scanning a page. “Let’s see here. Aha! ‘Harnessing a star’s power’.”

Flazino blinks. “How are you going to do that?”

“Well first, we pull it out of the sky, then drain it using this,” Manuel says, holding up his staff. “Mi amor, are you finished yet? I’m not getting any younger here.”

“I’m finished, I’m finished,” Amaya replies. She holds up a flask and hands it to Manuel. “Dragon scales for strength, rosemary leaves for focus, and unicorn hair for power.”

Manuel snatches the flask and eyes it carefully before raising it up. “Here’s to the most powerful king in all the land.” He drinks the potion and shudders, then smiles. “Oh yes.” He grabs his staff and the book, walking to the middle of the room. The king raises his staff and starts to read from the book.

“Stella lux, stella splendida. Primam stellam i videre noctem.” The tip of Manuel’s staff stars to glow brighter and brighter. Amaya, Flazino, and even Charo all watch intently. “Ego praecipio tibi in omni virtute mea. Habere potestatem, hac nocte impero.” Magic erupts from Manuel’s staff towards the brightest star in the sky.

Charo yowls and jumps into Amaya’s arms, who doesn’t look away from the sky. Flazino jumps back and watches with amazement. Manuel drops the book and grabs the staff with both hands. He pulls with all of his strength, gritting his teeth.

“Come on!” Manuel shouts, eyes locked on the star. He smiles as the star looks like it’s coming closer, and closer. “Yes. Yes, yes, YES!” Suddenly the magic snaps. It hurls back down to the chamber, sending Manuel flying back.

Amaya runs over to Manuel, dumping Charo into Flazino’s arms. The two look at each other awkwardly. “Mi rey! Are you alright?” Amaya asks.

Manuel gets up with a groan and grabs the flask, throwing at a wall. Flazino flinches back. “No, I had it, I felt it!” He storm over to his staff and grabs it, gripping it tight. “Why didn’t it work?! I had everything set up perfectly!”

“Darling, please calm down. Breathe,” Amaya says, gripping Manuel’s shoulder. “You were close tonight. Very close. That means your magic is working. Perhaps you should read more from that book and we can try again tomorrow night.”

Manuel sighs. “Yes. Perhaps, mi amor,” He turns around. “Go to bed. I’ll be there in a minute.” Amaya turns and walks out. Flazino hesitates before Manuel looks at him with a piercing stare. “You too boy.” Flazino quickly walks out of the room, leaving Manuel alone. He stands there for a few moments, taking in the silence.

The gem tip of Manuel’s staff is glowing dimmer than it was before, which he notices. He gently taps it “You’re a little low on power, aren’t you?” He pulls several wishes towards himself and sorts through them. “No, too soon, too weak.” He stops and grabs one, carefully examining it. Sabino appears, proudly staking a flag onto the top of a mountain. “Well hello. I thought you would have been dead by now, but apparently not. We can change that.” He crushes the wish.

Blue light flows from the wish into the staff. It glows brightly again, making Manuel smile. “There we go. All fueled up again.” He picks up the book and walks out the door, laughing to himself as his eyes glow green.

Author Notes

I’m sure Sabino is fine :) Anyways, sorry about the delay on this one. I’ve been caught up with some personal stuff recently, and overall I wasn’t sure how to go about this chapter. But I’m pleased with how it turned out. We get to meet Charo and Dahlia in this chapter, and get to see more of everyone’s favorite royal couple.

Charo is here to be an absolute menace. He helps our villains later on, but as of right now he’s mostly a source for jokes. Dahlia meanwhile is the only one of the seven teens I kept as a consistent character rather than a cameo. I felt like she would be a good companion to Flazino, and would be the first to fight alongside him, Asha, and Earendel. Her conversation with Flazino also allows us to see more of his character. He can be very pessimistic and sarcastic, but is a good friend.

And we finally get to see our royal couple in action. Now, I like all the rewrites that make Magnifico and Amaya madly in love with each other, but I personally went with their love being one-sided to contrast Flazino and Asha’s relationship. This chapter also shows the relationship between Flazino and his parents. They aren’t outright abusive yet, but do act somewhat neglectful and cold towards him in this chapter.

Amaya is definitely the brains of the relationship. Manuel is intelligent, yes, but more so in a social and book smart sense, while Amaya is better with emotional and adversity intelligence. She takes a lot after Maleficent, being very calm and collected, but wicked to a T as we’ll see in later chapters. And then we have Manuel. I can’t say he takes after any particular Disney villain. He kind of does his own thing, which I think is for the best. With their real introductions in this chapter, I wanted to confirm the audiences suspicions from earlier. And from there I wanted to make sure they were unlikable, but interesting. As Andres Deja, who animated Scar, once said “A villain always only works when he is interesting” (might be paraphrasing that) which is a sentiment I stand by. So, we end the scene at Manuel’s peak evil so far, and make sure everyone in the audience knows this guy is a threat. Basically have this relationship between him and the audience:

On a final note, I wanted to put in a little more foreign language in the dialogue. I thought it was a shame we didn’t get more Spanish considering the film is set near Spain. We also don’t get anyone in Rosas saying anything in their native language, which wouldn’t have added a whole lot, but I think it would have given Rosas a little more life. The spell Manuel recites is actually a twist on the “Star Light, Star Bright” poem. “Star light, bright star. I saw the first star at night. I command you with all my might. To have power, I command tonight”. It’s a little janky due to the Latin but you get the gist.

And now onto Chapter Four, where we’ll meet Earendel! I’m so excited to finally him. Oh I also have a post planned discussing Asha’s character arc in this story, because I have thoughts. a LOT of thoughts. So stay tuned for that.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Six: A Chance Meeting

Flazino wanders through the forest on his horse, looking for any sign of the star. He doesn’t know exactly what he’s looking for, but he’s sure he’ll know once he sees it.

He spots an odd flower and stops, dismounting to get a closer look. It’s the same flower Earendel created while he was following Asha. He pulls it out of the ground and watches the petals gently glow. “I must be dreaming.” He stands up and looks around. “Unless the star did this.”

“Oh yeah, that’s Earendel’s handiwork.” A child’s voice says. Flazino spins around, trying to find the source of the voice as he puts his hand on the hilt of his broadsword. “Down here!” The voice says. Flazino looks down and sees a rabbit at his feet. The rabbit waves his paw. “Hello there!”

“…I’m definitely dreaming.” Flazino says after a moment of stunned silence.

The rabbit giggles. “Nope! You’re not. You see this star came down from the sky and gave me this special dust that let me and a bunch of other animals talk and sing.” He explains casually.

Flazino perks up. “Star? You’ve seen the star? Was it with someone? Where did it go?”

“Woah woah woah, calm down,” the rabbit says, holding his paws up. “He went to the hamlet with Asha and said they were going to go save Rosas. I can take you to them if you’d like.”

“Yes,” Flazino says, immediately getting onto his horse. “Yes. Please. Now.” The rabbit goes back to all fours and hops away. Flazino pulls his hood tighter over his head and follows.

We cut to just outside the hamlet, where the rabbit stops. “Here we are.”

Flazino dismounts his horse and ties the reigns to a branch. “Thank you.” The rabbit nods and hops away. Flazino pushes away some branches and steps through into the Hamlet. He stops and looks around in amazement, having never seen a community outside of Rosas. He looks towards one house in particular, the only one where light is coming from inside. A black stallion stands outside grazing, fully saddled. The light moves and briefly passes a window.

Flazino sneaks towards the house, his hand on his sword. He presses against a wall and ducks below a window. “Why didn’t you mention the prince before?” Earendel’s voice asks from inside.

We cut to inside, where Asha is tying a sash belt around her waist (like the one shown below). Earendel is sitting on the table, swinging his feet. “To be honest, sometimes I forget he exists.” Asha says.

“I’ve never seen him myself. From what I hear he barely leaves the castle,” Asha continues, putting on her hat.

“How come?” Earendel asks.

“Nobody really knows. But either way, I don’t think he’ll be much of a threat.”

Asha grabs her rapier and sheathes it. Earendel jumps off the table and floats next to her. “Are we finally ready to go?”

Asha nods. “Yes, yes, we’re ready. Let me-“ she stops immediately as she hears a snap from outside. There’s a beat of silence before Asha slowly walks towards the door. “Stay here, and keep quiet.” Earendel frowns and flops into a chair, putting his head in his hands.

Asha slowly walks outside and looks around. She peers around the corner where we last saw Flazino, but no one is there. The only things there are a broken twig and a few footprints in the dirt. Asha bends down to examine the prints in confusion.

A silhouette appears behind Asha, and a shadow falls over her. She freezes for a few seconds before quickly drawing her sword and spinning around, pointing it straight at the figure’s neck.

We get a better look at the figure and see it’s Flazino. He holds up his hands and steps back in surprise. “Woah, woah, easy there!”

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Asha demands.

Flazino clears his throat and pulls his hood down. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Prince Flazino of Rosas. I’m here looking for a star that I believe fell out of the sky and caused that light earlier tonight. And you are?”

Asha smirks and does a little bow. “The Alondra of Rosas, at your service your highness.”

Flazino blinks in surprise. “You’re the Alondra?”

“What, did you expect me to be taller?” Asha teases.

“No. I guess I didn’t think you’d be so pretty,” Flazino says.

Asha is clearly caught off guard by this remark. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing, nothing, nothing at all,” Flazino says quickly, his face growing red.

Asha rolls her eyes. “Alright, listen. I really don’t have the time for this. I have no idea where your star is, so why don’t you go back to your king and tell him there is nothing worth his time in the forest.”

Flazino glances behind Asha, and we see a light moving from one window to the other in Asha’s house from his perspective. “I think you’re lying. I think you know exactly where the star is,” He says with a smirk.

“And what if I did, huh? Do you really think I would just let you take him back to Rosas?”

“I suppose not,” Flazino says. He slowly pulls out his sword. “At least, not without a fight. If you win, you can keep the star and you’ll never see me again. If I win, I take you and the star to King Manuel and let him handle you. Deal?”

There’s a beat before Asha shrugs. “Deal.” She wastes no time before she takes the first swing, but Flazino blocks it. They each swing at each other rapidly, their swords clinking as they hit one another.

Flazino’s fighting is much more refined than the guards, with much more agility and precision. But Asha doesn’t seem worried by this. She has the same air of boldness and even arrogance that she did with the guards. The two press their swords close to one another, their faces close.

“Not bad,” Asha says.

Flazino kicks her back and catches her off guard, knocking his sword into a tree. “Not bad at all.” He replies. He points his sword at her chin. “Now, about that star-” He’s cut off as a ball of stardust hits him in the face. He coughs and wipes his face, looking at the dust. “What the-”

Earendel floats above Asha’s head, clenching another ball of stardust and holding it up, ready to throw it. “Come at me! There’s plenty more where that came from!”

Asha quickly takes the opportunity to grab her sword. “Earendel, go back inside. Now.”

“No way! I can’t just let him push you around and hurt you without doing something,” Earendel replies.

“He just caught me off guard. I’ll be okay now.” Asha glares at Flazino, but he doesn’t even glance at her. He’s too busy staring up at Earendel.

“You’re the star?” Flazino asks hesitantly.

“Yes, I am.” Earendel flies closer to the prince. “If you’re here for my magic, good luck trying to take it. It can’t hurt anyone, but that won’t stop me from trying.”

Flazino is silent for a few moments as he stares at Earendel. Finally, he looks away. “I-I can’t,” he says, dropping his sword. “I can’t hurt a child.” Asha looks surprised by his words.

Earendel blinks and tosses aside the ball off stardust, which dissipates. “Oh, um…good.”

“Great,” Asha grabs Flazino’s sword and shoves it into his hands. “Now get out of here. And don’t come back.”

Earendel looks between Asha and Flazino in deep thought. An exclamation point made of stardust suddenly appears above his head. “Asha, wait!” Earendel says, waving away the dust. “What if he helped us?”

“WHAT?” Asha and Flazino say in unison, snapping their heads towards the star.

“Earendel, do you realize how crazy that sounds?” Asha asks.

“I know, I know, but hear me out. He’s the prince. If anyone knows their way around Rosas, let alone the castle, it’s him. He could help us get to the wishes a lot easier than if we went alone,” Earendel says.

“And what if he tries to betray us?” Asha asks.

“He already said he didn’t want to hurt me,” Earendel looks at Flazino. “Right?”

Flazino slowly nods. “Right…”

Earendel floats closer to Flazino. “Hey, listen to me. Asha and I plan to free the wishes of Rosas and take down the king and queen. Your parents. You should know that it’s wrong of them to take the wishes for themselves. And what happens to someone when they loose their wish.” Flazino glances away. That’s all Earendel needs to see to know he does. “But we can stop them. We can give the wishes back to their rightful owners and make everything better. Asha and I could do it on our own, but it would work so much better with your help. Together the three of us have a shot at changing Rosas forever.”

“It would be impossible to stop fath- Manuel and Amaya.” Flazino says.

“Yeah, well…it’s kind of fun to do the impossible,” Earendel replies with a gentle smile. Flazino’s eyes shift in contemplation. “So what do you say? Will you help us?”

“I…I will,” Flazino says with a sigh. He looks at Asha, who still seems uncertain. He kneels down, sticking his sword into the ground in front of him, bowing his head. “I swear on my honor, I will protect both of you and help you free the wishes of Rosas.”

“Very well,” Asha says after a beat. “You can come with us.”

“Yes! I knew you two would come around!” Earendel says, pumping his fist in the air and spinning in the around before flying towards the trees. “Come on, let’s go already!”

“Okay, okay, just slow down.” Asha grabs Max by the reigns and leads him towards Flazino. “You have a horse, right?”

“Yeah, right outside,” Flazino says, getting up.

“Good.” There’s a whining at Asha’s feet, and she looks down to see Valentino pawing at her leg. She bends down. “You can’t come with me this time buddy. But I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She scratches his head and stands up. “If anyone asks where we are, play dumb.” Valentino nods dutifully as Asha leads Max out of the Hamlet.

Outside the Hamlet, Flazino is mounting his horse while Earendel flies around in excitement. Asha mounts Max. The two horses eye each other with suspicion.

Asha looks at Flazino as he pulls his hood over his head. “Hey. I know we had a bit of a rough start back there, but…let’s try to make things work for now. For Earendel’s sake, you know?” She extends a hand.

“Sure. For Earendel,” Flazino says. He reached out and shakes Asha’s hand.

“Are you guys going to stand their chatting all night, or are we gonna go?” The star asks, floating in front of them.

“We’re ready to go,” Asha says.

“WAHOO! FINALLY!” Earendel turns around and soars off. Asha and Flazino snap the reigns of their horses and gallop after him. The camera pans up to show Rosas as the sun begins to rise and the music swells.

“Kingdom of Rosas, here we come!”

Author Notes

And at last, our main trio is together. It was really fun to write Asha and Flazino’s interactions. They’ll definitely shine more during the later half of the story, but I’m happy with their banter and quips when they first meet. I wanted to give them a similar dynamic to Phoebes and Esmerelda in this rewrite. I’ve always found their dynamic to be really fun and I don’t think we’ve gotten one quite like theirs since then.

Like the first chapter I think the weakest part here is the action. But as long as you can get the general idea of what I’m going for I think that’s okay. In my opinion, this kind of story should save that energy for more emotional scenes. And boy, do I have some emotional scenes in mind for later.

We also get to see more of Earendel being Earendel. With him I want to convey that yes, he is still a child and acts as such, but he is a little older and knows when to be serious. And again, ready to fight in a moments notice. Because man, I wanna see that more in Starboys.

And finally, yes, for the time being Valentino will not be with the main cast. Juggling the trio is hard enough, and I feel like he would just get in the way and wouldn’t add a lot. But he will come back during the climax, so he still has a purpose.

So that’s it for Chapter Six. The next chapter we’ll head back into the city and see more of our villains and side cast, so lots of fun stuff there.

Thanks for reading!