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Outside of the cave, the wind howled. Lumine huffed. Even snowless, the world outside of the Abyss held nothing but annoyances.
Sweltering heatwaves, relentless rains, frigid gales.
Annoyances…
Sunlight streaming through windowpanes, food filling the tables, hands helping one another. Gardens under the sun. Camps beneath the moon. Dances around the fire. Laughter and smiles. Friends. Families.
…Family.
Wings spread, Aether laughed, their hands entwined.
She tucked her knees to her chest. Nothing more than wishful dreaming. The past lay beyond reach.
Shutting her eyes, Aether’s distant promise of a wonderful future lulled her to sleep. Tomorrow awaited her arrival.
A snowflake drifted down, melting away atop their conjoined hands.
“The first snow of the year.” Lumine offered her free hand to the sky. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen it together.”
Aether tightened his grip. “It really has.”
“I wonder…” Clouds hid the moon. “If we’ve… If we’re lost.”
“Even if we can’t see them, the stars are there. We’ll find our way home.”
“Like we always do?”
“Like always. …Always.” His tears dripped. “When will that day come?”
She held him close. “I don’t know. …But one day, tomorrow will be as good as yesterday. I promise.”
Aether woke to Paimon’s drool running down his arm, tear tracks cooling on his cheeks, and an intangible heaviness weighing on his chest. He grasped at remnants of his dream; but the fragments of Lumine’s voice slipped away, as lost and impossible to reclaim as yesterday.
Snow blanketed the window. He’d slept through the first of the season. How many more would be without her?
Now, he understood—her old wish for the blissful past. He longed for home, for the happiness promised in history, for a past that would never come again. But only the future remained for them.