Chapter Text
Nephis activated her aspect, healing the bruises and cuts around her body before moving onto Sunny’s much more battered form. Sunny had learned of her ability to heal a few months prior, when they had gotten into a fight because Sunny didn’t trust her. She had yet to ask him about his aspect, fearing his trust issues would flare up again, but time was slipping by, and they both needed to have practice with their aspects before the winter solstice.
With her usual straightforwardness, Nephis said:
“We should start training with our aspects, If it's fine with you.”
Sunny, still laying on the ground, panting, seemed like he had expected this to get brought up eventually, but still asked:
“Why?”
“Sunny, we're getting close to the point where you need actual fights with your life on the line to improve further. This practice isn't very efficient. Your athleticism and power has also slowed greatly in improvement.”
What Nephis didn’t say was how his swordsmanship had improved to a scary degree in such a short time, rivaling or even surpassing many legacies, not that he showed it during the combat class. And also that, physically, while he still wasn’t as strong as Nephis, he was actually in good shape, especially compared to the malnourished outskirts rat he had originally been.
“I suppose we should talk about what our aspects do now?”
“Yes, we will be able to help each other train more efficiently if we do.”
“... do you wanna go first?”
“I will. Aside from the healing you are familiar with, I can use my flames to augment my strength, around doubling it. It can be used similarly to augment memories. It can only do one thing at a time.”
While speaking, Nephis demonstrated using her flames to augment herself, and a memory, a sword, that she summoned.
“Um... I can use my shadow as a scout.”
Saying so, his shadow detached from him and circled around Nephis.
“And, uh. I can also use it to augment my strength, about double, or the same for my memories. One thing at a time.” Sunny said while similarly showcasing his augmentation.
Nephis stared at Sunny, and he stared right back.
Sunny coughed.
“Quite similar.”
“How, exactly, do you use your shadow as a scout?”
“As you saw, I can move it independently away from me. It’s quite stealthy, especially when in the shadows, and can see in the dark. I split my perception with it, and can move it a few hundred meters around me. I can even sense other shadows, it’s kinda similar to sight but in a circle around me or my shadow, and goes through walls or around corners.”
Sunny looked proud of his aspect, and Nephis had to admit that it was an exceedingly powerful scouting ability for a sleeper. However, that only made her more wary.
“No, I mean what purposes do you use it for?”
Sunny sat up, and his face turned red.
“I only used it as a scout! Nothing bad! I promise!”
“I never mentioned using it for anything bad.”
Nephis began walking toward Sunny, a dangerous look on her face, and saw sweat forming on Sunny’s.
“Wait! I promise! You had wondered before how I always noticed you before you noticed me, right? I only use it to be more aware of my surroundings, and sometimes to attend other classes.”
She only stopped when she was close enough to make him squirm. She didn’t know why, but she liked doing this to him, she liked the way it made his face redden and his breath quicken.
“I believe you.”
And just as quickly as she had approached, she turned around, unwilling to let Sunny see her coloring face and crumbling stoic facade. Also, she hadn’t actually suspected him of using his shadow in a perverted manner; she knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t have the nerve to do such a thing. She had simply questioned him because...
‘Wait, why did I do such a thing? It doesn't matter, I wanted to, so I did it.’
***
Sunny was pretty sure he’d figured out Nephis’ flaw. He had had a suspicion for the entire year, with her reluctance to use her aspect and the pained expression she tried to hide when practicing it, especially early on. What had cemented it for him was their recent spars. When they had first started sparring with their aspects, Nephis had refrained from using hers, despite his significant advantage in strength. It had been fine for a while, but as Sunny’s swordsmanship and strength increased she became more and more disadvantaged in their spars, until eventually she began to lose regularly. Recently, she had been activating her aspect for short periods during their combat, just enough to maintain her edge above him. When she activated it was when it was most obvious; a microscopic twitch of her mouth, a momentary slowing of the speed of her darting eyes, a millisecond of hesitation. Tips so small that anyone who was not incredibly familiar with Nephis both in and out of combat would have had no chance of picking them up.
Sunny wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Speaking about flaws was already taboo, and was much more daunting for Sunny because of how easy it would be to royally mess up his life when discussing the topic. So he had decided not to bring it up, openly.
“No, I’m fine.”
Their eyes met. Sunny knew Nephis was intelligent, and his tone hadn’t indicated anything like a joke, so he realised he had likely given himself away, and she likely knew that he knew, or rather, suspected that he suspected.
“Idiot. What happened?”
Sunny realised that he was, in fact, an idiot. He’d had the idea to refuse Nephis’ healing before the spar had started, but now that it was over he was in no condition to do such a thing, as he was fully skewered by Nephis’ blade. Nephis’ question brought up the reason why he was skewered, why he had been distracted enough for such an attack to land, as unlike in real combat, Nephis was not actually trying to impale him, so she had lightened her attack the instant she noticed his faltering guard, which should have provided more than enough time to deflect or avoid the thrust. However, Sunny hadn’t, thus the current predicament, because he had been greatly distracted.
“My shadow... It moved differently from me.”
She tilted her head. “That’s... normal?”
“No, like it moved without me telling it to, like it was trying to... like it has a battle style of its own, and it was trying to use it.”
***
Nephis was having a much better day than the rest of the academy. She had started the day with her usual shower, but had broken from her routine of training with Sunny first thing. Instead, she met him at their table in the crowded but silent cafeteria.
“Happy Birthday, Sunny.”
He had told her offhandedly a while ago, but Nephis had deemed it important enough to remember.
“Oh yeah. Thank you.”
“Coffee?”
“Yeah. I had my first and only other cup right before the first Nightmare, and figured I might as well make something of a tradition.”
Nephis only nodded. She would have spoken more if not for the rest of the cafeteria’s somber mood.
She listened to the instructor’s speech, and stayed by Sunny’s side as they were guided through the academy. When they stopped for the hollows, Nephis couldn’t help but be reminded of her mother.
“Goodbye.” Sunny’s voice was a bit melancholic.
“We will meet again, be it the dream realm or the waking world.” Nephis thought she did a good job of keeping her voice’s usual indifferent tone.
Before she knew it, Nephis was inside the sleeping pod in her personal room.
[Welcome to the dream realm, Nephis.]
After a jarringly instant transition, Nephis found herself standing on a strange red coral like material.
Then she heard a quick yelp behind her.
Spinning, she caught sight of the source immediately. It was a short blonde girl, and as Nephis watched she fell to the ground, hugged her knees, and began sobbing. Also, like Nephis, she was naked.
“What are you doing?”
“W-what? Who are you?” The girl looked her in the eyes. Almost looked her in the eyes. Nephis noticed how the girl’s eyes hadn’t swiveled within their sockets, and how the girl’s gaze felt just a bit off of eye contact, but held like it was correct.
“I am Nephis, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame clan.”
“I- I’m Cassia. I’m blind. That’s why I was crying”
Nephis sighed.
***
Sunny didn’t really have a Love/Hate relationship with [Fated]. He definitely hated it, but only slightly liked it. The hatred was obvious- It had dropped in the middle of an ocean with a corrupted nightmare creature trying to eat him when he got here. The like part came from the fact that a weapon memory, the type he needed right now the most, had just been delivered to him on a silver platter.
The carapace scavenger- Sunny had learned the name from the spell after dispatching it- had been clumsily hiding, likely due to its heavily injured state, and Sunny had executed the crippled awakened beast.
Not only had the thing given him the Azure Blade, a tang dao, it had also given him two Shadow Fragments, indicating a peculiar nature to his soul core, a nature made even weirder by the fact he couldn’t absorb the soul shard, which he stored in a makeshift satchel. Sunny kept a brisk pace through the labyrinth, sometimes making wrong turns and having to backtrack, but still had plenty of daylight left by the time his shadow first spotted it. Sunny tripped, fell, and injured himself more than the Awakened beast had. Sunny’s shadow froze, then cautiously made its way back to Sunny. Sunny realised he should go study the corpse of the carapace scavenger, search for its weak points. Yeah, that would take some time and help cool his head.
***
Nephis had been too preoccupied by the carapace scavengers, sea creatures, and taking care of the blind Cassia to make some improvised undergarments so far. She hadn’t deemed it a priority, as the only company was blind. This afternoon, she had finally found the opportunity to make them, and it had taken less time then she had expected, the seaweed proving a surprisingly workable material. She soon found herself grateful for it when a familiar shadow began to wave to her.
“Sunny?!” The shadow gave her a thumbs up.
“What’s that?”
“Hey Neph, guess you were right about meeting again.” The boy popped out from the coral labyrinth, a large smile on his face, his eyes lingering on Nephis.
“That is Sunny, a fellow sleeper and student at the academy.”
“Is that all I am, Neph?”
“No. Cassie, He is also stubborn, annoying, and short, Really short.” Nephis spoke, knowing Sunny could detect the playfulness in her voice but Cassie couldn't.
“Hey! I’m not... Being short isn't bad!”
“See?”
Cassie smiled faintly. “It is nice to meet you, Sunny. I am Cassie. I am blind.”
Sunny seemed to grow serious at that.
“Nice to meet you. So, do you guys have any plans? Any idea where we are or where to go?” Sunny’s words addressed them both, but he was clearly asking Nephis.
“Not familiar with the location. Seems to be a death zone, where exactly is unclear. No information on gateways. You?”
“Same information here. A lot of the scavengers seem to have gathered around a giant carcass, a bit west of here.”
“That explains the lack of Nightmare creatures. How long?”
“Two, maybe three days.”
***
Sunny was no expert on food, the majority of his life spent only with synthpaste, but had learned a good deal at the academy, in both wilderness survival and from the cafeterias. That being said, he could tell that what he was eating right now was made by an accomplished chef. He glanced at Nephis, or rather the purpose of his gaze on her changed, and began to wonder about it. Why was she so good at cooking? She was much better than what one would be after the introductory lessons teacher Julias had given. He knew that the awakened meat, meat Sunny had gathered from the scavenger, would taste better than the usual mundane of the cafeteria, but also that the chef’s required skill would be higher to make the full use out of it the way Nephis had.
The meal was also complimented by the Endless Spring, a memory belonging to the blind girl, Cassie, and capable of generating an infinite amount of drinking water. The three had to pass it around, and while Sunny had ideas for creating pottery cups later on, a skill that Julias had spent quite a bit of time teaching, he somewhat enjoyed the feeling of camaraderie it brought... or when his fingers would brush Nephis’ during a handoff.
As they had finished up the meal, making sure to stomp out the coals, night began to set in, sun falling beyond the horizon, sea reaching up against their coral island. At the same time Cassie began to show her emotions, fear and loneliness, presumably thinking the others wouldn’t be able to tell. Nephis knew he could see in the dark.
Feeling bad for the girl, Sunny decided to break the silence.
“Considering we will be fighting together until we can make it to a gateway, I think we should share out our abilities and memories.”
Nephis glanced at him, a humorous gesture considering she couldn’t see in the current lighting, and spoke:
“I’ll start. My attributes give me an affinity to light and fire, and an affiliation to divinity. My two memories are a rope and sword. The rope is very sturdy and can change it’s length, and the sword is very sharp and gives mild protection against soul attacks. My aspect allows me to heal.”
Sunny was familiar with Nephis’ aspect and attributes, so he knew she was lying about her aspect. On one hand, Sunny was proud, as she had lied about it rather seamlessly, something he knew she had picked up from him, but on the other hand he couldn’t help but feel sad at the thought that Nephis’ couldn’t even trust a blind girl in the dream realm completely.
Sunny turned toward Cassie, opening his mouth to share his too, if only to make Cassie less nervous, when he noticed her face. It was an interesting expression, suggesting that she thought, or maybe even knew, that Nephis was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. Sunny almost chuckled. It seemed the three of them all had trust issues.
Cassie took the initiative to speak following Sunny’s silence.
“My attributes are nothing special. I guess I have an affinity to revelations and fate. My ability allows me... to see other people’s attributes. It’s not very useful. About my memories, I have three: the bottle, the wooden staff and this armor. You already know about the bot-”
“Sunny!” Nephis exclaimed as white sparks formed the Azure Blade and illuminated Sunny’s poised form behind Cassie.