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– · – Sun – · –
For a long, long time Penny’s only friends had been the glowing stars shining bright in the night sky.
Before she started her extensive training with Ironwood and his Ace Operatives, she spent most of her younger years hooked into walls and standing in tubes awaiting various tests and results regarding herself. Her only form of entertainment had been the various movies and television shows that her father let her watch to pass the time.
She doesn’t remember most of what she’s seen in those shows, but there had been at least one consistent thing in a lot of her media watching that had stayed with her for years and years.
Wishing upon stars.
She knew that it was all fictionalized. Stars weren’t sapient, magical entities that bended the laws of physics to bring a person’s secret and silent thoughts and desires into reality. The concept was nothing more than one of thousands of different plot devices.
But there's something about it that fascinated her all the same.
They were her comfort in the deepest nights when her father was asleep and she — who has no need for human requirements such as sleep or rest — was left to occupy herself until the sun woke up to greet her. They were her night lights, the one thing she looked forward to seeing at the end of each and every day.
They were her friends — the only ones she had. The secret ones she kept hidden from everyone, including her father and Ironwood, both of whom she feels would never understand.
They would stare back at her, always glittering and unwavering. They watched over her like a sparkling blanket, promising to be an anchor she could hold onto so she’d never have to feel completely alone.
Sometimes she’d think they were smiling down at her, too, like they were trying to tell her a hidden secret. One shared between friends, one moment in time that belongs to her and no one else.
She’d stare at them for hours upon hours, wondering what every single individual one looked like up close. She daydreamed about flying up there to see for herself, extensive fantasies of shooting up into the sky through the atmosphere and into the endless darkness of space just to get embraced by everything it had to offer.
There were so many reason why she couldn’t do it — insufficient fuel reserves, she wasn’t completely positive that the atmosphere wouldn’t melt her body, she didn’t want to be so apart from her father — but she still had that want within her. She wanted that taste of something new, something free, something that was hers and only hers.
Something that made her feel a little less lonely.
So she started doing the next best thing. Copying what she saw in her shows, she would wish upon them every single night. It became a source of routine, something to look forward to at the end of each day.
Her wishes started off simple. “I wish to be able to fly around tomorrow!”, “I wish Winter Schnee would visit me again!”, “I wish for a new blanket soon!”.
Eventually over time, her wishes had slowly went from multiple different ones at once to a single, simple one. One that she had felt stronger than anything she has felt so far in her life, one that she would squeeze her hands and eyes closed harder for, staying under the twinkling lights for as long as she could as though that would make a difference. It was a chance she had to take for a wish as important as this:
Her secret and silent desire to have a friend.
It was a wish that she had repeated over and over again, believing more and more each and every time that it was going to come true — which, to be fair to her, it eventually did.
“Take care, friend!”
And the stars must have really loved her, because they granted her wish twice.
One in the form of Ruby Rose, with Blake Belladonna following not too far behind.
– · – Stars – · –
When she was a child, her mother used to tell her the story of the shattered moon.
“Legend says that the moon used to be whole,” her mother would say in the late night, their room illuminated by the very light of their subject. “A brilliant and perfect shining orb in the sky whose gaze could stretch amongst even the most remote areas of Remnant itself.
“But one day, something hurt her really bad. No one knows what that thing was; there are rumors that say it was a past lover of hers. There are others who say that it was the most powerful grimm alive that did it, who disappeared right after. But no one knows the full truth, except for her.”
“Why would someone hurt her?” Ruby would ask, her small voice genuine and curious no matter how many times she’s heard this tale.
Her mother’s eyes would soften back, always patient, always loving. “That question has been asked by many. Who would hurt someone who didn’t do anything wrong? Who’s only crime was seemingly to just exist? Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason for why someone would hurt another person. Sometimes they just do.”
“That’s not right,” she’d say with as much conviction as she’d hear Yang use when disagreeing about something.
“It’s not,” her mother agreed, smile always growing a bit bigger. “But nonetheless, it happened. The moon got hurt, and a part of her shattered with the pieces scattered all around. Some have worried how those scattered pieces would affect her. Would the world be engulfed in darkness at night? Would she continue falling apart until there’s nothing of her left? Would she lose herself to the hurt and the pain that surrounded her?”
“But those pieces never left her,” Ruby continues, only too aware of how this story goes.
“No, they didn’t. They may float around her forever, they may never fully come together again, but she still has all of them. She still has all of herself. And despite everything she’s been through, her light has never dimmed. No one could ever take that away from her.”
Ruby would always smile at this part with her big grin and missing teeth. “She was never broken.”
Summer Rose would smile back, her palm would gently brush a lock of her daughter’s hair behind her ear. “Yes, my petal. No matter how often something can be torn apart due to the cruelties of others, nothing in this world is ever truly broken. That goes the same for all of us.”
Ruby stares at the same moon now, still standing and shining just as bright and strong as she was when she was a kid. And the many centuries that have passed before then.
She stares at the shattered pieces, all of them floating around but none of them ever straying too far. She will always have every part of herself, even if it doesn’t look like it. Even if she doesn’t fully believe it, yet.
“Something catch your eye?”
Ruby turns her head and smiles when she sees Blake walking toward her, with her long black hair flowing all around her.
“Just looking at the moon! She’s beaming tonight.”
Blake settles next to her and stares up at the moon as well, her hand hovered over her forehead almost like she’s shielding her eyes from the sun instead.
“It’s certainly… pretty,” she comments, pausing as though wanting to say more but then ultimately deciding against it. She turns to look down at Ruby and smiles softly. “Didn’t take you for someone who liked moon-seeing.”
“I’m a bit more partial to stars myself!”
Blake and Ruby turn to see Penny fly around in the sky above them before going down and landing right next to them with a soft thud of her steps and quiet thrum of her thrusters.
“Penny!” Ruby yells before running and wrapping her arms around the other.
Penny hugs her back just as enthusiastically — careful as to not squeeze too hard like she did last time. She looks up at Blake, who keeps her distance but smiles slightly at her in greeting all the same.
“Did you need something?” Ruby asks when she pulls away. “Why did you call both of us here?”
“I felt lonely and wanted company,” Penny says simply and straight to the point. The total honesty almost caught both of them by surprise.
Ruby and Blake glance at each other, but their shoulders relax and both of them keep their warm grins fixed on their friend.
“I don’t have any plans,” Blake offers.
“Neither do I.” Ruby says happily. “We’ll gladly keep you company, Penny!”
Penny’s resounding grin could outshine the sun itself.
– · – Moon – · –
For someone who has spent her entire life hiding in the darkness, Blake has always found herself gravitating toward the sun itself.
There’s not a single thing on Remnant that’s more powerful than the light of the sun itself. It’s everywhere, from the peak of the highest mountain to halfway through the ocean’s water. It’s warmth is all encompassing, ranging from the heat of a pleasant blanket to something hotter than even the strongest of fires.
In the light of the sun, there’s nowhere for her to hide. And maybe that’s why Blake is so drawn to it. She has to face herself and everything she is with all her shadows and secrets banished under that light, whether she likes it or not.
Every part of her, every inch of her being, is laid bare and vulnerable underneath that bright and unbudging stare, free of judgement and penalty. She’s completely unguarded under that luminous heat and radiance, and that’s something she never thought she’s ever be okay with, let alone seeking out.
How could she ever possibly shy away from that which brings about life itself?
To find solace in the one thing she has learned to avoid since she was a child — she now knows that that avoidance had always been an impossible task for her to follow. She was born with the sun in her eyes.
Sometimes she finds it strange just how much safety she feels when thinking about this celestial body. Like drifting off into a comfortable slumber knowing that she’ll be receiving a dreamless sleep while nothing in the world would ever disturb her so long as she stays in those radiant rays.
And as time goes by, the taste of the sun only gets sweeter and sweeter on her tongue.
Blake pulls away, her lips still faintly tingling from pressing against Penny’s own slightly hard lips.
Penny beams at her widely like she always does after they kiss. They’ve grown far from when they first started — where it was almost impossible for them to even touch their lips together because Penny couldn’t stop grinning.
Blake’s own mouth matches with affection, more open now than she was a mere two years ago. It’s gotten so much easier to be open and free with herself; the change was so gradual that it took others pointing it out for her to realize it.
“Wow,” Penny whispers.
Blake rolls her eyes, but the pink on her cheeks gives her away instantly. “You say that every time.”
“Because it’s spectacular every time.”
Blake’s blush deepens, and she gently shoves Penny’s shoulder with her hand.
“Aww, are you guys kissing without me again?”
They turn to see Ruby walking up toward them, both of her hands occupied with holding the drinks she had just gotten from the cafe behind her. Blake reaches over to take her iced tea, careful to not bump against Ruby’s own hot chocolate.
“No one’s stopping you from kissing us, you know,” Blake points out, sipping her drink.
Ruby grins, all teeth and dimples. “Do you guys wanna — “
“YES!”
Penny slams her face into her other girlfriend’s, not at all caring about the hot chocolate which is now spilling all over the place, and it takes all Ruby has to stay upright while flailing and not fall over.
Blake laughs light and airy and free, the deep sunset in the sky draping them all in their own little universe.