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After uniting the Lightstone and Darkstone, the Vampires and Daywalkers decided to go back to their villages, with the promise to work on their biases towards each other. Zed, Addison, Willa, and Eliza went back to Seabrook, promising to visit when they got the chance. And while there were promises of change, most things returned to the way they were. With a few exceptions.
Victor’s aunt started giving him more responsibilities, preparing him to lead the village after he proved himself in a time of crisis. Despite Victor wanting what was best for his people, he still wanted to mess around and hang out with his friends (old and new).
Nova’s father had lightened up a bit with how much pressure he was putting on her. But she still struggled to meet his high expectations, especially after saving their people. Commander Bright was so proud of Nova that he got swept up in his excitement for her to lead their people.
The only thing keeping the two of them sane was each other.
After trying to fend for themselves for a month after the whole Orchard ordeal, the two of them had taken to sneaking out at the end of their days, retreating to the place where they solved the second puzzle with each other. Both of them went there to remember each other, and the time they shared together.
One night, after Victor had a particularly loud argument with his aunt, he retreated back to the ruins. Everyone back in Shadyside always thought that their little jabs never got to him, and for the most part, they were right. He didn’t necessarily care about the lighthearted jabs, yet some hit really close to home.
Vigilant and hardworking leaders, yeah right! His parents would’ve never allowed that if they were around! He’s a disgrace to their legacy!
Ever since his parents had passed away, whispers of their legacy followed him. It didn’t help that his aunt felt the need to comment on his lack of leadership in front of the whole village…
Ever since he and Nova had saved their village and town, the comments had died down, only to come back full force when he still tried to shrug off his duties as future leader. He thought that he’d grown enough for them not to bother him, yet when the older vampires whispered a crude remark, he found the words cut just as much, if not more, than before. After seeing Nova’s father’s pride fully on display when they healed the orchard, Victor realized that he wanted that. But he knew that he’d never get it, since everyone in the village saw him as an unserious slacker, who would never be the village leader.
Victor had enough for the week and decided to hide away in the camp, figuring that no one besides Vera and Vargas would notice his absence. He found himself drawn to the old cave, where he spent most of his time, since only Nova and he knew where it was, it was the perfect place to hide away from the world.
Alone, Victor finally let the tears he had been holding run down his face. Letting years of pent-up hurt out for once, in a place where no one would find him.
That was almost no one.
“Hello? Victor is that you?” A familiar voice called out. Victor tried to quickly hide his tears, wiping them, and tried to muffle his sobbing, trying to place a confident smile on his face.
“Are you okay?” Despite Victor’s efforts, his smile fell, and he clenched his jaw to try to keep any more tears from falling.
“Yeah yeah,” he sniffed, wiping away more tears, “um– don’t worry about me. Just needed some time away y’know?” He tried to keep his voice from wavering, desperately trying to keep himself from crying while Nova was in front of him.
“But um– now you’re here, and I bet you want to be alone so I will just head out,” he grabbed his bag aiming to leave, “and see you late–” but was cut off as Nova grabbed his arm as he passed her on his way out.
“No! Don’t leave, sorry um, just because I’m here doesn’t mean that you have to leave. And you seem like you need a shoulder to cry on so, I uh, guess I’m here. Plus, now that you’re here I don’t really feel like being alone, if you don’t mind me staying.”
“No you can stay! I uh, could use a friendly face right now…” he trailed off, dropping his bag and leaning into Nova’s arm.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She whispered, trying not to pry too much. While Victor nodded, she led him over to the stairs, where they sat down next to each other, leaning against each other as much as they were leaning against the wall.
“Y’know how I said I didn’t want to lead Shadyside?” Nova nodded, “Well even after the whole thing of saving the orchard and all of our people, I still don’t. I’m glad to have more of Rayburn to explore, but I still want to see the world. There are so many places to go and people to meet, and now that everyone isn’t as scared, I thought I’d be able to see more of it. But it feels like I’m even more weighed down than before!”
His frustration was visible on his face, “And I know what everyone expects of me. My bloodline has led the village for generations, which includes my parents, but I don’t really remember them. But that doesn’t stop the village from constantly commenting on me being a ‘disgrace to their legacy’ by avoiding the leadership responsibilities I never asked for. All of my life I’ve felt like a disappointment, and I thought things might change a bit whenever we saved everyone, but it just made everything worse. When the stones healed the orchard you’re dad looked at you with such pride, and I wanted that. But then I realized I’d never have that…” Victor trailed off, turning away to wipe tears from his eyes.
“Sorry, I’m sure you have your own problems, and here I am crying about stupid things.”
“It’s not stupid,” Nova grabbed his face and wiped away some of his tears, “I know I said that you sounded like the leader your people needed, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t want to lead. And having all of your people tearing you down because of something you never asked for is awful, I’m sure your parents would be proud to see the person you’ve become Victor, even if you’re not following their exact footsteps.” She sighed leaning against him, “but who am I to talk, my dad always wanted me to follow his leading style, and I know he means well, but that night was the first time in a while that he’d looked at me with pride for something that I had chosen to do.”
“I mean, at least he looked at you with pride,” Victor said resignedly, “I don’t think my Aunt has ever looked at me with anything but disappointment in her eyes.” He sighed.
“I um, having been coming here just to get away from everyone,” Victor started, “But I’ve been here a couple of days now, just because everything had gotten too much, and most people probably wouldn’t realize I’m gone for a few days.”
“That’s awful.” Nova grabbed his hand squeezing it, “I would notice if you left, but I guess I probably know you better than most people in your town.”
“Yeah, most people have seen me messing around and decided that everything everyone else says about me is true. So Vargas and Vera are really the only ones who know me well. Other people might pretend to be my friends, but they quickly realize that since I don’t want to be leader, they’re better off not caring about what I do.”
“I get some of that, too. People want to be my friend just because they think that when I become leader, they’ll get something from me.”
“Like Ray?”
“Ray is complicated. He’s my cousin, but his parents aren’t really high up in the rankings of our town, so he’s trying to prove his place to my father. But despite that, he is a good person, and isn’t afraid to disagree with me. I know whatever is happening that I can count on him to be honest about what he thinks.”
“I get that, Vera and Vargas are similar for me. They get that I need space, and aren’t afraid to disagree with me. They also cover for me when I disappear, which I never asked for, but it’s nice.”
“You disappear often then?” Nova asked, a bit shocked, she could never disappear without people realizing she was gone. She was starting to realize the vast differences between their two towns. But the similarities too, she bet if she disappeared for days, there would be countless rumors that would be spread across Sunnyside, but they would probably be about how ‘little miss perfect Nova’ was acting out, and that they knew she wasn’t as good as everyone said she was.
“Yeah, sometimes it’s just for an hour to go flying, but sometimes I just have to get away for the day because I can’t handle everyone’s eyes on me.” He looked at her, “I bet that part isn’t so different for you, but people don’t look to me for answers, they look at me like I’m bringing everything down. So I thought, if all they’re going to see is a teenager that never takes anything seriously, why try to be anything else?”
“Because you’re more than that! I know I’ve seen you. You care so much for your people, and I can’t believe that they don’t see that.”
“Because I don’t let them see anything else. I don’t let them see that their comments get to me, and I always use the wind to make a chaotic entrance so they can focus and talk about that instead of anything else. I guess if one thing’s come from it, I’m probably the best at using the wind in the whole village.”
“I was going to ask about that. You used the wind to protect us while we put the stones in the cauldron, and nothing anyone was able to do got through.” Victor hid bashfully, “What else can you do with the wind? Is it only big things or can you do small things too?”
“Why don’t we go outside and you can find out?” He asked mischievously, “And then you can also show me some of your talents.”
“Okay vampire, lead the way.” Nova smirked. While their conversation hadn’t reached a resolution, it seemed like they were both done talking about heavy topics for the night.
The two of them ran up the stairs to the ruins on the hill once again, shocked by the beauty of the hilly mountains, and the sky full of stars.
“I never realized night could be so beautiful. Sometimes the dark is still scary, but I know that it’s just a pretty as the day.”
“Isn’t it? And I never realized the beauty that came from the day, and the sparks you make. Can you show me that again? Or do something like how Ray did his phoenix wings back at the cauldron?”
“Of course! Big constructs like Ray did are tricky to get right, but I can do something small.”
Nova then created a small insect in her hands, making it walk across her hands, antenna twitching, its wings fluttering open and closed.
“That’s so cool! Could you make it fly?” Victor’s eyes were transfixed by the insect, but he looked up at Nova to ask.
“That’s a bit advanced for me, it’s hard to keep all of the details when you’re also focusing on the movement. I could get it in the air, but I doubt that I would be able to keep it moving.”
“Then allow me to assist.” Victor smirked, “If you could get it in the air, I bet I could get it to move with the wind. As long as you’re able to let it be guided by the wind, I think I can keep it flying.”
Nova’s eyes lit up at the idea, as she moved her hand and the insect spread its wings and lifted into the air. Victor’s eyes then lit up red as he commanded the wind to guide the insect. He guided it around their heads and whooped in celebration.
“This is so cool, I knew that we could combine our abilities to make fire stronger, but to make something so beautiful is incredible.” She giggled when the insect landed on her nose, and then launched into the air again.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before,” Victor commented, “Usually I use the wind to lift myself, and that takes a lot of force to lift, but being gentle is just as empowering.” He gasped as Nova made the insect burst into countless more, catching them all with the wind and guiding them to fly in different directions. “What should we call them?”
“Well, it’s a combination of both of our strengths, my fire–”
“And my flying!”
“So how about–” Nova hummed as she thought, both of them keeping their eyes on their creations.
“Fireflies!” They both turned to each other and shouted at the same time. But they lost concentration, and the newly named fireflies burst into sparks.
“I like it.” Nova said, smiling as the last of the sparks died out.
“Me too, I’m glad you’re here. I never realized how much I need to just talk to someone. You know me, and I know you. So I guess I’m glad you were here, this is much better than just hiding away from the world.”
“Yeah, out here we don’t have to have the pressure of being future leaders, or whatever we decide, we can just be ourselves. I don’t think I ever realized how much I needed to just relax until now.”
They lapsed into silence, finding comfort in each other’s presence.
“So… more fireflies?” Victor asked.
“Definitely.” Nova agreed, and then they got to work, seeing what else they could make under the stars.