Chapter Text
Bitterblue:
Raining. It was raining, but not anymore. The air was thick and humid and a smoky haze floated around Bitterblue’s feet. She stumbled down a long twisting maze of dark alleyways. The sky was a dark blue but there weren’t any stars in her sight.
Bitterblue knew that if she could just get out of the alley she could see the stars. She couldn’t see very well though. The dark alleyway was so misted over that she couldn’t see where she stepped.
She mumbled softly, she couldn’t hear what she was saying though. Was she saying anything at all? Or was that the sound of the water droplets collecting in the gutter, falling from the slanted rooftops above her.
The roof. If she could get to the roof she could get to see the stars. It was so important that she see the stars. She wanted to climb up the to the rooftops from where she was in the alleyway but they were too high and she was so little. And alone. She couldn’t climb up all that way by herself.
Suddenly she was in the main street. Was this really an improvement? Bitterblue didn’t know. She passed the empty shops and she was so confused. And cold. The stars could warm her up. She knew it. She knew that if she reached the stars she would be warm.
And then she saw them. Stars. The ones that would guide them. They rested upon a young man’s face. Sandy hair. Purple eyes. Warm smile. He radiated heat and she was warm. She was safe. He called her name. But it wasn’t her name.
“Sparks!”
She laughed then. She threw back her head and laughed. When she opened her eyes she knew that she was surrounded by stars. They hung from the sky and from Saf’s face.
Saf. They were on the roof then, they were safe. He held her hand. He held her. She closed her eyes. She was at home here as she hung in the stars.
•••
Bitterblue woke up then. She felt slightly disoriented, as one usually does after having a strange dream. She usually didn’t like dreams that called figures in from her past. Figures that had left four years ago and had not responded since.
But she didn’t mind that dream. A dream of safety. Home. She smiled then. She never noticed the fact that the pillow next to her was warm, even though nobody had slept there that night.
Saf:
She was the only thing he could see. A candle in the night. But he couldn’t catch up. Bitterblue wandered the alleyways and he could do nothing but wait as the candle flickered in places and disappeared down other paths.
He peered down the alleyway. The candle was growing brighter, but as Bitterblue got closer the street grew longer. The shops doubled and the juniper growing along the road filled in the spaces between them. Saf didn’t care. No matter how many obstacles blocked them he was determined to see that beautiful light.
He pushed through the juniper and skidded around the lightless streetlamps. The shop windows showed no reflections. He wasn’t quite sure of himself when he couldn’t see properly.
Then he saw her clearly. Her light lit up the shop windows around him When he glanced in them he could see his glowing freckles and his wet hair. He was sure of himself. He was Saf and he loved Bitterblue.
“Sparks!” He called. She was so close. And suddenly they were together. Her laugh lit up the night and he grabbed her hand. He led her up the ladder to the rooftop. She wanted to see the sky. He didn’t blame her, everything wa alive with color and light now that they were together.
He held her in his lap on the now dry rooftop. He watched her as she watched the sky until her eyes closed shut. Her cheeks were cold and alive with color. He held her and closed his eyes. He knew who he was. He could see. Bitterblue.
•••
Saf awoke with a start. He sprang out of his cot gasping. A few others in his dorm sighed and shifted in their sleep. He looked out the window, it was still night. He settled back into his cot.
That dream made him so happy, so happy that he realized how unhappy he was without Bitterblue. He was not at home here in the Dells. He wanted to go back. Back to his home. Back to Bitterblue.
As he shifted and rolled over he didn’t notice the fading warmth in his hand. Warmth that only another hand holding his could’ve had caused. Even though he was alone in his cot.