"I'm going to bed,"

It shouldn't have been a surprise, seeing as Mai LOOKED like the devil (or, at least, she thought she did), but everyone at the table made comically sad, disappointed, and shocked faces at her statement.

"Alreaaady?" Emi whined, her eyes flashing a dull amber.

Zheng readily put his two cents in. "Yeah, c'mon Queen, don't you wanna watch a movie or something? It IS your birthday tomorrow,"

Mai groaned as she tipped her plate into the sink, raising an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Bruh, I am literally dead right now, and for your information, I think ALL of us have that Chem 'quiz' tomorrow,"

"SAYS YOU," Zheng spluttered, "YOU never have to worry about quizzes. YOU'RE literally the smartest person on campus!"

"YEAH," Emi chimed in.

"I AM NOT THE SMARTEST PERSON ON CAMPUS," Mai shot back, irritation flooding her facial features. She hated it when her friends brought this up.

"YES YOU ARE,"

"NO,"

"YES,"

"NOOOOOOOO,"

"Let her be," Yuki looked at her in amusement, grinning. Mai huffed and glared at him, not knowing if he was truly on her side or not. But even if he wasn't, it wouldn't have been a surprise that Yuki was the one advocating for her here- he was the one that slept the most, after all.

Yeah, sleeps the most, taking up the entIRE COUCH like a GREAT GALUMPHING RHINOCEROS.

"Yes, thank you, goodnight," Mai spoke once more before putting her glass in the sink, suddenly grinning cheekily, "I'm going to let someone else clean those." The three still left at the table instantly began to glance at each other in a silent debate on who would be doing the dishes that night.

She plastered her signature smirk- the one that clearly said 'I'm-a-badass-deal-with-my-sarcasm-and-awesomeness-before-you-regret-it' on her face as she walked down the hall and into her room. Her eyes raked over her messy desk, rumpled bed, and chair piled over with so many clothes it looked like a fabric monster. She resolved to fix it all tomorrow, as she always did.

Despite her protesting, she wasn't worried about the test she had the next day.

Geniuses, it's called LISTENING IN CLASS.

Mai huffed as she slipped into comfortable clothes, readying herself for bed. SShe glanced longingly at the books that piled her bookshelf. No, NOT the textbooks, those were nightmares condensed onto paper. No, she gazed at the spines that held stories and adventures of fantasies- dragons and witches and a hell of a lot of plot twists. Sometimes, she wished she could jump into the stories and escape her reality.

School was - surprisingly- a highlight of her day. NOT her teachers, who could be so annoying it took all her effort not to go up to them and stab them in the eyeball. But going out of her house, learning stuff, having a purpose, at least. In her opinion, staying at home, playing and watching movies, got pointless after a while. She would much rather be able to go to school. People should at least be a bit grateful for it. She never understood those people who genuinely hated it.

Her friends didn't.

Which was why they were her friends. Obviously.

Mai sighed and rolled over.

Shut up, brain. You'll never get up in time if you carry on reading until one.

Which she had done, many, many times. Listening to music- her second-favorite thing in the world- and reading books could potentially keep you awake longer than it should. Hey, for her, those things were better than coffee!

Mai groaned at the voice of reason in her head. It was right, of course. She needed to sleep so she could be her amazing self tomorrow. NO SLEEPING IN CLASS ON YOUR BIRTHDAY.

But still.

Mai glared at the tempting pile of books one last time before tossing her phone onto it and burying her head under the covers.

NO READING NO MUSIC NO PHONE NO READING SLEEEEEEEEEP.

Only 100 pages?

NO!

Mai pondered the ridiculous conversation in her mind and stifled a laugh. She was strange, she was quirky, she was a little bit insane.

But that was who she was, so it was take her or leave her.

The air under the covers became slightly suffocating, and so she emerged from her cocoon of blankets and breathed in the cool, dark air of her room. She kicked her feet out from under the covers and rolled onto her side, grabbing one of her two pillows and hugging it close to her chest. It was strange, how she slept, but that was how she did it, so again.

Take her or leave her.

As her body made a little semicircle of warmth in the bed and she settled in, she snuggled in deeper to her pillow and prayed that she wouldn't have a nightmare tonight. It was a strange wish, but lately, she had witnessed recurring dreams of fire and nobles wielding swords and bows and with eyes of strange colors. Every single time they would end with shadows engulfing her, a stabbing pain in her back, and her waking up in a cold sweat.

The other type of nightmares she faced were ones that featured her parents and brother being blown up.

Those weren't so much nightmares as memories.

The other type of dreams were strange, and scary, but they were just dreams. No value to her that would make her weep or cry. Just make her irrationally afraid. It was probably because of all the fantasy books she crammed her head with.

But that didn't mean she liked them.

To the gods of annoying nightmares: It's my birthday tomorrow, and if you could possibly LAY OFF YOUR STUPID DREAMS, that would be much appreciated, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Well, it didn't seem like whatever god was up there was going to be listening to her anytime soon.

X         X        X

"You're here,"

Mai staggered up and snarled angrily as a familiar, almost detached voice met her ears. It was cool and melodious, yet firm and unrelenting.

"Do I even have a choice?" Mai spat, whirling around to face the figure that had begun and ended all of her strange dreams. The woman's pure white eyes gleamed with a cold light. Her dress shimmered jet black with undertones of a white shine, speckled with silver sequins in familiar patterns that Mai couldn't quite place. Her near-white skin was dotted with starry freckles.

The woman chuckled. "You never had a choice, child."

"Not AGAIN with this prophecy crap," Ma groaned, burying her face in the palm of her hand.

"It would do you well to listen to this 'Prophecy Crap', or so you like to call it,"

"Just-" Mai whirled around and jabbed a finger at the strange lady who seemed to be made of stars, "just SHUSH. I don't know why you drag me here every single night, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm not a saviour, I'm not 'The Chosen One'. If you're looking for Harry Potter, I can point you in the direction of my bookshelf. But seriously, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"You KNOW I can't do that, you insufferable child," the lady suddenly snapped, walking up to Mai and seriously invading her personal space.

"Actually," Mai got over her initial shock and snarked back, "I DON'T know that. So why don't you explain it to me?"

The star lady took a step back and threw her hands in the air, muttering something along the lines of, 'WHY do these things always happen to me?'.

"Alright listen up," the star lady suddenly whirled around and gave Mai an appraising look, as if seeing something in her for the first time that she might actually approve of, "This is the last time you're going to be able to get a warning. The Shadow King is after you. He cursed you as soon as we both realized what you were,"

"And WHAT am I, exactly?" Mai's face turned amused- it was kind of funny, to be honest, how even her dreams were slightly insane. It would be a good story idea, though.

"DON'T INTERRUPT," the star lady huffed before continuing, "But what you are is the Last Mein, the final key to resurrecting the lost kingdom. We don't know how the last emperor managed to hide your spirit in this dimension, but he did, because you exist,"

Mai's eyebrows had been steadily creeping towards her hairline with every second.

The star lady took no notice of this and continued. "Mai Jaspal. You are more powerful than anything Aericra has ever seen. You are the saviour from the Prophecy of Stars- MY prophecy, because I am that terribly important-"

Mai rolled her eyes at that comment, but didn't interrupt, which was unlike her, but she honestly DID want to keep listening. Besides, what good would it do to get on the bad side of this very snarky woman is a very sparkly dress?

"-and tomorrow, on your birthday, the Shadow King's curse will drag you to Aericra so he can deal with you. Don't let him. Find your seven knights. Save Aericra from the turmoil it has descended into. Fulfill the prophecy,"

Mai snorted. The lady gave her an exasperated look before saying something she didn't expect.

"You've got a spark in you, Mai," the lady called, making Mai stop and turn back for a second, "don't let it be twisted,"

Mai was quiet for a moment before she scoffed and whirled around, refusing to dwell on these stupid things that WEREN'T EVEN REAL because THEY WERE DREAMS.

"Come on, lady, we ALL know I'm not going to be doing any of those things anytime soon," Mai chuckled as she began to turn away.

Ha ha, Mai thought dryly, me, a SAVIOUR?

And maybe the star lady read her mind, because when Mai turned away this time, she wasn't stopped. The voice behind her wasn't stern or annoyed or sarcastic. It was genuine, tender.

"Don't worry. We'll be waiting for you when you do,"

That was probably supposed to be the dramatic last words of the dramatic dream, but Mai decided to yell something into the void anyway as her dream began to fade.

"DON'T BANK ON IT,"

Seeing the scandalized and highly offended look on the star lady's face was totally worth it.

X         X        X

A/N:

Wow, so I think I made the Star Lady more snarky than neccessary.

It was fun, though.

We can't have all the mentors being kind and patient and generous, can we?

So, here's another updated chapter which was kind of fun to write, considering how DRY the last version was. Anyway, have fun reading Lovelies, and hopefully the rest of the chapters will be safe to read and low on cringe soon.

See ya, Lovelies!

-MyOwnA.R.M.Y