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Gossan blinks four eyes open, watching Feldspar dance among treetops and starlight. There's no campfire to light up their reckless dancing, but Gossan can see it clearly anyways.
“Feldspar.” Gossan lets out a sigh of relief. “I was waiting for you to come back. I had some plans I wanted to talk to you about!”
Feldspar laughs, and it echoes. They dance to a drumbeat Gossan can't hear, to a rhythm Gossan can't follow.
“I know you’ve been feeling overcrowded at the village lately, so I was thinking next time you come back we could head over to the geyser mountains. Get some hiking in, plenty of alone time, set up a campfire.” Gossan explains. “You don't have to worry about being the greatest there ever was anymore. I just want to see you.”
“Gossan, I'm not coming back.” Feldspar replies, a smile to their voice. “I was never going to come back.”
Gossan’s forced smile falters, their hands shake, their chest hitches. No. They won't cry. “Feldspar, please.” They say. “I've been planning this for so long. Don't mess around with me, you know how much I care about this.”
“Why aren't you dancing with me?” Feldspar asks, and they grab Gossan’s hands, swinging them around in a circle. Gossan has never been one for motion sickness, but their stomach flips.
“Let go of me.” Gossan tries to pull away. It doesn't work. Feldspar’s grip tightens until it hurts. “Feldspar, please come back. You can't– Please don't do this to me.”
“We both knew this was going to happen.” Feldspar laughs again as the scenery sways behind them. “I was always going to go out with the stars. This was always going to hurt.”
“Stop it.” Gossan pleads. Feldspar’s face is mangled and ripped beyond recognition. “I have dreams about you.” They gasp, a spur of the moment confession. “I have dreams about you being there, and then I wake up, and you're not there, and I can't– If I– You have to come back. You have to make those dreams real.”
“They were always just dreams, Gos.” Feldspar’s disfigured corpse says. “They were never going to be more than that.”
“Fucking come back!” Gossan hisses. “You don't have to leave! I won't make you come to the village, just please, I miss you, and I can't– If you're gone I don't– What am I supposed to do when everything I've done is for you?”
"Same thing you've always done!" Feldspar laughs and laughs and laughs.
"I tried so hard." Gossan whispers. "Please."
"You never could have tried hard enough."
Gossan finally pulls themself out of Feldspar’s frenzied dance, falling on their back. The sky above is a dark blue haze, stars absent.
Gossan sits up, and the clearing is empty of everything but them.
Gossan sits up with a gasp, and the bed they lay in is empty of everything but them.