Chapter Text
Months have passed since then, and the Forgotten Shore in all its crimson beauty was a sight he couldn’t ignore. Kai has learned to appreciate it; he wouldn’t trade what he has for anything in the world. If I could go back in time, he thinks, I’ll make the same decisions, again and again. A soft snore erupts beside him, and he fondly turns his head to black hair and black eyes — curling around the charcoal ashes of their campfire, he was a sight to behold. His head tucked into his knees, shoulders hunched inwards, he looked so, so small.
It was his favourite time, mornings like these, not that the Death Zone had any sun for symbolization. But Kai knows; he's been stuck far too long in a cycle of waking at exactly 7, with idol work turned into desperate survival.
He lifted his hand, clawing through soft, flowing clasps of black, gently soothing Sunny’s hair till its end at his shoulders. It’s long, full of grime and dried blood. Kai ignores the urge in his head to wash it in the finest shampoo. Instead, he thought of his own mane of auburn. It’s long, unkempt, extending past his shoulders and just past his chest. He didn’t know how it looked, but it couldn’t be anything exquisite, anything up to his standards. At least he couldn’t see it with no light here, no mirror to look at his dead eyes and false smile.
Maybe I should cut it, he thought, reminded of the endless vast sky as he took off in flight, hair flowing into his head and itching his skin. He wanted to, but… No mirror, his mind whispered, a chance of looking terrible.
Tying it would simply have to do.
With that, he walked through his morning routine. Tying his hair, pulling out dried abomination meat and tearing through it, maintaining his bows and checking on his arrows. Finally, as he just about grew bored, Sunny stirred beside him.
An eye popped open in a single moment. “Kai…” the boy muttered, “Good morning.”
A smile drew itself on his lips — contentment, he thought.
“Morning,” he chirped in response, taking a seat beside his Sunny, handing over a piece of meat.
A comfortable silence passed between them, as they each gnawed on their food for the day. At some point, Sunny summoned the [Endless Spring], where they each drowned it with a desperate thirst. After all, they could be ambushed at any time, and… there was only one of them fit to take watch, to be able to see within the darkness.
Kai frowned, the memories sharp in his memory. Of a time where he was forced to the lull of slumber, unable to contribute to guarding the two of them. It was a tumultuous time, where the only abominations left were the mighty, dangerous ones, and every moment was a ticking bomb. His scout could see in the dark, while he could only watch helplessly, like an animal in the dark.
(Kai.)
Like drowning.
(A huff. Am I too ordinary for you to notice?)
He hated it, to drown in helplessness, in lies, with nothing he could possibly do to take his fate back, to claim Kai as his own person.
(...)
Night of Nightingale was an identity he learned to live with, a man born for the stages, a pure being of light whose songs struck everyone’s hearts.
(Kai, archer… tell me what’s going on? Please?)
Lies, he wanted to claim, that Night was a man built on lies.
“—Kai!”
A scream? He blinked, darting to his surroundings, bow at the tip of his hands— Sunny?
Oh.
“Are you okay?” his Sunny asked, a frown to his lips — worry, he recognized. …Kai didn’t like that look on him, Sunny shone the best when he smiled.
Sunny waited for him, drowning a gulp of water. “...Hey, you don’t have to tell if you don’t want to. You’re not like me, there isn’t exactly a Flaw that forces you to the truth.”
Truth, his own Flaw rang, and what Irony it was? For Sunny to be forced to words, while he held all the cards to hold over him. Imbalance. He thought, the word leaving a bad taste on his tongue. And yet, all he could think was that the man he fell for trusted him, held him on a pedestal compared to the rest of them.
Not that they were here in their darkest moments. He traitorously thought. He’ll hold Sunny’s trust dear to his heart, and repay him with his own.
Truth, his Flaw rang.
He grinned, squinted his eyes and channeled all the charm into it. A show, he reminded himself, to smile was to be free, and they didn’t have time to spare for his meaningless thoughts. “I’m fine, it’s nothing big,” he muttered, hugging his legs, as he gazed into the darkness of the day. Lie, his soul screamed. “...We’ll have to move soon.” A familiar pain throbbed in his chest, as Lie rang and rang and rang.