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    Summary

    Pond was born on a day that did not exist. He had slipped through the rare hinge of a leap day and with him he had carried a shadow. For him, each fourth year was marked by death, until the burden of loss was a geology in his very bones.

    He had knelt, finally, before the last grave in that terrible constellation of loss and in the darkness his family had left behind, he had sworn himself into a future barren of all tenderness.

    But promises are only lies disguised as futures. And that vow, too, would be shattered. Not by lightning or storm, but by bright eyes and rosy cheeks, by a warm smile that found him in the cold. It would be undone by the sound of laughter as bright as the sun, by the gentle pressure of a touch as soft as petals.

    But the curse of a leap day can not so easily be undone.

    Inspired by: Leap Day (2025)

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    68,071
    Chapters:
    3/4
    Comments:
    35
    Kudos:
    45
    Bookmarks:
    10
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    827