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Despite having finally finished his blacksmithing forge and having a proper roof over his head to call his, Nominal couldn’t help but continue to sleep gazing at the stars. He watched the slowly turning moon pass through its phases and counted as it waned and waxed. And with every night passing, he grew more concerned over Scott still having not returned from his town. Nom fully understood that it wasn’t going to be as simple as the florist swiftly returning as fast as he’d left, but he couldn’t shake the odd silence in the kingdom in his absence. Sure, Eloise and Shan were fantastic mages and could hold down whatever duties he’d been fulfilling. Yet there was this gap in the kingdom that no one wanted to acknowledge. It felt… darker. As he anxiously dozed off under the night sky, he hoped the light of the Blue Kingdom would once again return.
“So, he’s still not back yet?” Graecie asked as she polished off her spear.
“I’ve not seen him,” Nom replied. He absentmindedly hammered away at the anvil as he forged a new pickaxe.
“He’ll turn up soon.”
“I just…” Nom quietly huffed, “I wish I could’ve done more.”
“Hey…” Graecie placed her hand on Nom’s shoulder, causing him to stop in his tracks. “It’ll be okay. We’ll all give him a wonderful welcoming back as soon as he makes it through the gates.”
Nom hummed. Graecie peeked over his shoulder but Nom couldn’t meet her eyes. There was this strange, festering guilt in his stomach that he didn’t understand. Like he’d forgotten something. He missed something so painfully obvious.
“Shan and I are going down to the arena, you want in?” Graecie asked, letting her gentle tone try to break through the tense air.
“I’m good, thanks though,” Nom said.
“If you say so.”
Graecie pat Nom on the shoulder and ran off. Nom took the finished pickaxe and shoved it into his rucksack. However, upon dropping it in, he felt a loose piece of paper inside that surely hadn’t been there before.
“Hmm?” Nom said quietly. He mumbled under his breath as he dug through his bag to retrieve the note. “4C, I swear to god, if you snuck something stupid in here—“
But as Nom pulled the folded paper out of his bag and examined it further, his brows furrowed in confusion. He unfolded the note and scanned over it as quickly as he could. Inside, there was a small, wilting dandelion and just one phrase hastily scribbled with smudged ink:
Everything I have is destined to fade away.
Nom’s eyes darted between the words on the page and the flower and it didn’t take long for him to connect the dots.
He had missed something.
Nom, without missing a beat, bolted towards Scott’s greenhouse. He wasn’t sure what he was going to find, and any idea his imagination entangled into his bustling thoughts were not ideal, to say the least. How could he miss him? Had Scott arrived while he was sleeping? Surely, if not him, someone else could’ve noticed him. Why did this feel so wrong?
Nom stumbled onto Scott's porch and gripped onto the fences as he caught his breath. And from what he could barely make out through the windows, he felt his stomach sink even deeper than it had just from the letter. The greenhouse's windows were cracked, the fractals like a looming spiderweb engraved into the glass. And inside the greenhouse, every single flower had begun to wilt. The bright torchflowers and lilies he'd been tending to just the day before were now dreadfully faded in color and drooping towards the floor. Nom slowly walked towards the greenhouse door to knock, only to see it just barely cracked open. He hesitantly pulled it open just enough to look in.
"Scott?" Nom asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
No response.
Nom pulled the door open further and stuck his head inside. He could see more wilted and decaying flowers on the floor that had seemingly been stomped on and crushed.
"Scott? Please, it's just me," Nom said, the worry in his voice spreading through his entire body.
Still nothing.
Nom pulled the door all the way open and stepped inside. The whole house had been ravaged. He was half expecting to see the marks of a rogue that he'd find after cleaning up a robbed corridor of the castle. But there was nothing quite like that. All he could see was an empty house and no Scott.
"Scott! Please, what happened?" Nom ran his hands through his hair. He begun to pace through the house only to immediately trip over his own feet. He managed to catch himself on his forearms and he quickly turned around to try to see what he fell over.
Or rather, who he fell over.
He could barely make it out. But the golden, setting sun beamed through the cracked windows and managed to just barely catch a shape on the floor. It took him a moment to figure out what exactly he was looking at. But soon, he could make out the transparent figure facing him. The light drew a faint outline over the cape, and the disheveled hair, and the lilies tucked into it. Before Nom could even react, one of the invisible flowers slowly faded into view as it began to wilt and fall to the floor right at his feet.
And then he heard the cry.
It started quiet. Almost as inperceptible as the rest of the figure. One muffled whimper. But then… it grew and grew. Nom grimaced as he could only hear the figure attempt to clambor and cover their mouth with their hands to disrupt the noise. But it was far too late for that. Their cries grew louder until the sobs echoed and reverberated through the entire room.
All the racing thoughts in Nom's mind had all finally came to a crashing halt at the truth that sat in agony in front of him:
Scott was here. He'd been here. And he let himself fade into the shadows, away from everyone.
Without a word, Nom pulled himself towards where the light caught Scott on the floor and he, with far too much hesitance for his liking, reached out his hand toward him.
All was still for a moment.
But then, Scott took his hand. Nom didn't flinch at the feeling. Instead he held on tighter.
And Nom pulled Scott out of the shadows and into the light.
It was a warmth he didn't know how to handle. He was so used to just taking it in from Scott anytime they were together. It was always so gentle and calm. But his light was a radiating heat coming from his chest and breaking through the cold steel armor he'd always worn. It was fiery and raging and untamed. He felt like it would swallow him whole. But for Scott, he would let it.
Nom pulled Scott into an embrace with just enough force to not hurt him and he leaned into the feeling of Scott tightly wrapping his arms around him. Scott dug his head into Nom's shoulder and continued crying, no longer trying to hide himself away. Nom held onto Scott's head and run his fingers through his hair. He kept his eyes away from the lilies that continued to wilt and fall. Neither of them tried to say anything. There was no need to, not just yet. They just held onto each other, praying the other wouldn't disappear once more.
In the eternity that passed after Nom's entrance, his embrace, and the setting of the sun, Scott and Nom had found themselves sat against the wall of chests in the greenhouse. Nom had returned to holding onto Scott's hand, fingers interlaced. Scott still hadn't turned visible.
"He's gone," Scott said slowly, his voice hoarse.
"I'm sorry," Nom said.
"I couldn't do anything."
Nom hummed as he caressed Scott's hand.
"I… I can't do this, Nom. I can't be here. I'm not good enough."
Nom turned his head towards Scott, wishing he could lock eyes with him. He had never been good with words.
"Why did you come back for me?"
"Well… The note and all…" Nom said, "It wouldn't have been fair. You helped me. And I don't know how much help I was tripping over you," Scott quietly chuckled, reigniting the heat in Nom's chest, "But… I had to do what I could. I'm one of the Blue Kingdom's knights after all. I'm supposed to… protect you," He trailed off.
"I've… I've been back for a day or two," Scott murmured. Nom's grasp tightened. "I don't think my invisibility has broken since, uhm… since he…"
"Scott…" Nom said.
"I just… something is deeply wrong with me."
"You're hurting. That isn't wrong."
"Everything about my magic has been off. All of my flowers, everything."
"We can fix it. But you just have to know that everything you feel right now is not something to destroy yourself over."
"I'm so tired."
"Look, take all the time you need. I'll be here."
"…Thank you."
Scott leaned his head on Nom's shoulder.
Nom didn't truly know if everything would be okay. Neither did Scott. But they knew that whatever came next wouldn't be something they'd fight alone. Eventually, Graecie and Shan would come upon the sleeping knight and the barely visible mage resting in the greenhouse, as the early morning sun glinted off the fractured windows. But in the moment, in the quiet night, they held onto one another. And both refused to let the other fade away.