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Wish Upon a Star
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Fandom: Trancendence AU (Gravity Falls)
Warnings: Terminal Illness (Mentioned)
Summary:Sometimes, when you wish hard enough on a star, one will appear to grant your wish.
Over his many centuries of existence, Alcor had learned to discern quite a bit about his summoners from the draw of their summons. His usual clients pulled harshly, demanding his time and cooperation. (They never lived very long.) Some others were inexperienced, their chalk lines sloppy and candles mismatched, but nonetheless they pulled him through sheer desperation and willpower. A few were clean, sterile, and measured, performed in labs and underground bunkers by trained professionals. Increasingly, there were demonology professors who summoned him to be gawked at in an auditorium of young hopefuls and paraded as a fine example of what not to summon.
This tug felt nothing like any of those.
As Alcor felt along the line slowly ensnaring him, pulling him, he was pleasantly surprised to find no demanding voice on the other end. The lack of a sacrifice meant he didn’t have to follow—meant he could break out of this threadlike summons with ease—but something felt odd about this summons. A vague sense of childlike wonder seeped through the connection and compelled him to follow. He was rarely summoned with a sense of wonder.
As he let himself be guided into the material plane and prepared to appear, he noticed with some confusion that there was no circle to materialize within. But that was aright, he was strong enough to appear without one anyways.
His polished loafers touched down on the carpeted floor of a bedroom. It was dimly illuminated by a pink-and-blue lamp painted with dancing faeries, probably imitating an old pre-Transcendence style. Sitting in the middle of one of two twin-sized beds was a young girl, about eight or nine, wrapped up in a blanket. Her eyes were closed, and her aura glimmered with bright veins of hope.
As Alcor adjusted to his surroundings, he noticed that the girl was whispering something to herself.
“One star, two star, wishing well.. carry my wish u-pon this spell..” the girl took a breath. “Please bring my brother back!”
Nothing happened. Nothing had been offered in return, so there was no deal to be made. However…
Alcor sat down carefully on the corner of the bed. The mattress dipped with his weight (a conscious choice on his part) and the bedsheets crinkled. The girl’s eyes flew open and met his.
“Shh, don’t be scared,” he whispered quickly. He leaned in. “I’m here to grant your wish.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you a star?”
He smiled knowingly. “Yes, I am. Do you know the Big Dipper constellation?”
She nodded enthusiastically and bounced in her blankets. “Mom taught me how to find it!”
“Then you might recognize the second star in the Big Dipper’s handle. Do you know that one?”
“Is that you?”
“No, that’s my sister. But right below it, the smaller one, is Alcor, and that’s me.”
“Wow,” she breathed.
Alcor laughed quietly. “I want to grant your wish, Elizabeth, but I didn’t hear it because I was so busy flying down to Earth. Can you repeat it for me?”
The girl grinned and crawled off her bed, then climbed onto the other one. “This is my brother Tommy’s bed! He got sick last week and mom took him to the hospital.” She turned around and swung her legs off the side of the bed. “I miss him. Can you make him better so he can come home soon?”
“Of course I can. But I’ll need…” Alcor frowned and tried to think of something, anything, he could plausibly need from her that would also sustain the deal she wanted to make. “I’ll need some of your memories, so I can find the right boy. There are a lot of people in the hospital.”
“You need to borrow my memories?” she asked, confused.
“Not borrow—I’m afraid I’ll have to keep them. I won’t be able to help your brother if I don’t.”
The little girl frowned at her toes, deep in thought. Her gaze traveled up to his face, then back down to her feet, then up again. Finally she said, “okay. I’ll give you a memory.”
Alcor stood up and crossed the room, adjusting his gloves. “I’m going to take a memory of you playing with him, okay? Just a little one. Hold still.” She closed her eyes tightly as he placed her hands on her head—technically he could take it without even looking at her, but he needed physical contact to seal the deal. Blue fire bloomed around the crown of her head, and in the same moment, he pulled out a simple recollection of the two of them as very small children. It was a treasured memory, one she certainly would have missed if she could remember having it.
“There,” he said, “all done.”
The girl opened her eyes. “Will you make Tommy better now?”
Alcor smiled kindly at her. “I’ll go do that right now.” (He’d already done it, seconds ago. The boy was cured of terminal illness, a miraculous recovery that no doctor would be able to explain.) “If you ever need to make a wish again, remember me. You can always call for Alcor, okay?”
She grinned, showing off a gap-toothed smile. “Okay! I’ll never forget you, Mr. Alcor Star!”
He tipped his hat to her as the room began to dim and shadows lengthened. “Until next time, Elizabeth. Enjoy your time with your brother.”
His last view of her as he faded back into the Mindscape was a blur of nightgown as she dashed forward to hug him tightly around the waist. “Thank you,” were the words that reached him as if from underwater, distorted and dull.
He smiled, although she could no longer see it.
“You’re welcome, little star.”