Chapter Text
The first time he heard of him, he was only a Sleeper who had just arrived for freedom. Kai had waved his hand back then, an arrival was nothing special to him by now— the winter solstice comes and goes. Perhaps he should have known by then, that the “Scout to the great Changing Star, Legacy of the Immortal Flame” was someone special.
The Forgotten Shore must have done a number to him, he thinks, looking back, but when Sleepers come and go in this death trap, it was simple enough to forget the face of yet another victim.
But the first time he saw him… well, it was an unforgettable night. In the depths of the Forgotten Shore, Gunlaug’s troops had trapped him under a well, searing the entry closed; if Kai knew better, he would have thought that the Ruler of the Bright Castle was out for his blood. What he did know though, was that he’s trapped, weary, and quite frankly, helpless.
Oh, did he cry and scream, Aspect activating and shooting him straight to the entry, pounding on the cover like a madman.
On a night like that, he’d describe it as depressing, disgusting, and utterly miserable. But he made up for every drop of loathing he had felt; he met his saviour that day. A boy with raven hair just at the height of his neck, onyx eyes the deepest black he had ever seen, and a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
It was his voice that Kai remembered, that painstakingly jokeful, scornful tone that had the undertones of something melodious.At that moment, all he saw were blinding stage lights, a roaring crowd, and a tune of magic dancing to his ears.
Night of Nightingale was only a singer, a musician at best, and as they say, music could only be the love of his life.
Kai wasn’t a private person, and his Aspect and Flaw were nothing to hide. It came to no surprise that he told Sunny his Aspect and Flaw within the 15 or so minutes they got to know each other. What was a surprise though, was this dreamer of truths. Whatever spews out of his mouth held no lie, and his Flaw never acted up with his presence.
Paragon of truth, Sunny was, though jokeful and eccentric. He’s bright, Kai thinks to the void of his mind, and with that voice… I’ll excuse the poor jokes he makes.
….He should have known it to be a mistake.
Sunny was a gremlin, an evil, evil gremlin who tested the limits and workings of his Flaw with exaggerated stories that were somehow, true.
…It didn’t make Kai like him any less.
He joins Changing Star’s cohort soon after that. She’s a fan—interesting. What shocks him more is that the crazy kid who lives in the ruins is the same scout of Changing Star from the rumors.
He has a cohort now, comrades to rely on, and Sunny who he suspects of a Flaw that forces the truth.
Sunny was always brooding, he soon learns. Incredibly secretive, truthful, and grumpy.
The dark, tacky clothing he wore wasn’t for hunting at night, but his Fashion Sense. It’s edgy, sure, but Kai couldn’t imagine him with anything else. And… it’s fitting in a way, cute if he squints.
He wasn’t surprised when he finally tells him his Flaw; not the details, but what it does to him—the guilt that digs into his skin.
“Ignorance is bliss, Sunny. After returning from my First Nightmare, I had to come to terms with the fact that most of the people in my life were not who I thought they were. And that what hid behind their smiles was ugly and vicious.” He gestured to himself, memories flashing before his eyes, the times he’d spend sleepless nights, replaying the lies he was fed over and over until he was so tired he fell asleep.
“Because of who I am... and how I am... There was always a whirlpool of people around me. But after learning their true faces, I couldn't… well. Let's just say that, if I had the choice, I would have preferred to stay blissfully blind to the truth forever.”
And that’s why he enjoyed the scout’s company; “No matter how bizarre the things you say are, they're always true. I never met anyone as stupidly honest as you. It's very refreshing!”
Sunny blinked at him, stupefied, the smile he had frozen on his face. “Uh… sure,” He had said, and Kai returned a charming grin of his own.
He knows that those from the outskirts could never be stupidly honest, but he was grateful to the scout. His Flaw brought along its own pain, and he felt unburdened in front of him.
Sunny wasn’t just a scout, he was a fighter. An incredible swordsman, like a knight of the legends, protecting his charge, the princess.
He had to stop underplaying himself. Without him, the cohort wouldn’t possibly progress as far as they could in the Dream Realm.
Sunny was amazing, and he couldn’t possibly think that Kai could ever replace him. Scout Night? Impossible.
He could fly, sure, he could see the dangers and nip them off with his arrows. But that was all he could do. What if he couldn’t warn his friends in time?
…He admired him, Kai really did. And… if he was right in the gazes Sunny gives him— No, it couldn’t possibly be. They had a real, breathing princess with them after all, so much more better, regal than a nobody like him.
…In the blink of an eye, the Siege of the Crimson Spire was dawning upon them, and they were all equally frightful. It’s here, the moment of truth. And, amongst the fight of life and death, of arrows shot till his fingers were bleeding, wounds reopened again and again, Night fights. He sinks his teeth and bears the pain, thinking about raven hair and onyx eyes.
Kai was destined to fall. He knew that. But why did it hurt so much? Even when he completed his mission, did the best he could do. Fire blazed in his eyes, he wanted to live, live! No matter how impossible.
…He wanted to return, to learn more about Sunny, to share lives under the night skies of NQSC.
And so, he dreamt. Falling from the sky, Night of Nightingale thought of soothing voices and lullabies, of Sunny and Sunny and Sunny—
He’s falling, he knows that, tumbling out of the sky.
Heh, He thinks, thoughts drifting to raven hair and onyx eyes, Sunny would probably say that it's childplay.
But he was no Sunny, and there was no miracle to save him. At least… He thinks, At least the bastard’s dead and the Dreamer Army’s safe — he’s done his part, and if it were his fate to die, then so be it. At least, in this life, he found him, found meaning, found what he wanted to live for.
Kai closes his eyes in a midst of blood and storm, of free falling and shining rays; he thinks of songs and dances, of smiles and laughter, of soothing voices in a world without hate.
Kai closes his eyes with a smile on his face; he thinks of phoenixes and rebirth.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster.]
[You have received a Memory.]
He never expected to wake up, much less to the very person he wanted to see the most. Draped in grime and blood, Sunny was magnificent, a walking dream of his… dreams.
“Kai! You’re up!” He mutters, his eyes widening, face mere inches away from his own. It would’ve been perfect if this were any place else, but the Forgotten Shore taught him to be grateful for these small moments.
“…Where’s everyone?” He croaked, “What about the gateway?”
Sunny noticeably darkened at that. “Gone. Home. The Crimson Spire demanded one of us to be left behind, and I stayed.”
He should have lived. He should have—
“Why didn’t you use me?” Kai forced out, ignoring the sting of his bones as he sat up and faced him, “I’m alive! Or, I’d be dead either way! You could have got out and lived with Nephis! To continue the Immortal Flame—”
“I didn’t know!” Sunny screamed, “We all thought you were dead, and— I wouldn’t have left you alone either way.”
Kai looked at him, truly looked at him. And oh, he could see it now, the tears pricking at his eyes. He knows what happened now, at the wounds dribbling from clean sword marks, at the hunch of Sunny’s shoulders, of the furrow of his brows that promised revenge.
Something big happened while he was gone, and it wasn’t anything good.
“…Was it Nephis?” He asked with a whisper, and the silent the scout gives him was all he needed to know. “I’m sorry…” Kai mutters, leaning over to hug his friend, ignoring the flinch he got in return. “You didn’t deserve that.”
“…What would you know?” Sunny asks, his voice all fire and might, "What would you know about her?! About me? I don’t deserve that? Well that’s what trusting someone does to you!”
Oh, how he desperately hoped for it to be a lie. Truth, His Flaws rings, truth. He tightens his grip on his friend, never letting Sunny go despite his discomfort. “I’m sorry,” Kai nuzzles to his neck, “I’m sorry, Sunny, for you to feel betrayal like that.”
“What would you know?!”
“Nothing,” Kai says, “But I believe in you, you stupidly honest scout. I swear I’ll stay with you Sunny, you’re my friend, and I never abandon my friends.”
Sunny doesn’t say anything, instead, prompting to stay still against the crimson walls, tears silently falling from his eyes. And Kai lets him, envelopes him in a hug amongst a world that’s gone to ash.
In a Forgotten Shore without its sun, the death zone was awfully silent. The night was eternal here, darkness stretching for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see. Silence reigned in the world, and once again Kai was reminded of the hopelessness of the situation. No gateway, no way home.
He’d scream in any other situation, but there was someone who needed a scream more, and Kai… he knows how to deal with this, how to force his own emotions down his chest, and deal with them later at a time.
“…It’s all her fault,” Sunny says at last, his figure still and haunted.
“Nephis?”
“No, Cassie.” He whispers, voice broken and awfully downturned, “She saw this. Nephis told me. They—” He flinched, “They didn’t give me a choice. Ironic, isn’t it? I trusted her. It was the first time I did.”
Kai tightened his grip.
“They peeled off all my barriers, made me believe them to be friends,” Sunny spits the word, gripping his knuckles so hard they turned white, “When they were anything but. Traitors.”
“I’m sorry,” He says again. And oh, in another life, maybe he would have been the good friend, whispering sweet nothings to Sunny, calming him and helping him with acknowledging that Cassie and Nephis might have a reason behind all this; in another life, he would have been the friend mediating all these pent up emotions, teaching his friend how to love again; in another life, he wouldn’t feel all sorts of things at a mere hug.
“I’ll never leave you Sunny, I swear.”
Sunny turns to him, smile all broken, shattered, the light of his eyes gone. What have you done, he thinks, to Cassie and Nephis, to leave him in pieces. “I’ll hold you onto that,” He says in stride, “They’re traitors, but you’re not… Don’t ever leave me, you charming archer—”
…
Sunny freezes, realization dawning on what he had just said, and—
Cute, Kai thinks, as he releases him from his embrace, propping down besides him and taking his hand, “Charming Archer, I like that. There’s a sound to it that’s especially unique to your voice.” He turns to him, all smile and rainbows, “I suppose I’ll return the favor, my knight of darkness.”
Sunny looks away, a bright hue blooming on his cheeks. “…Don’t you know I’m a devious devil in disguise?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe this devil you are is truly devious, charming this archer of yours like a knight would.”
Sunny freezes again, turning to him with shock. Emotions flash across his eyes, and a tremor passes through his bones. “Damnation Kai! I know I’m dense, but you can’t possibly….”
A few years ago, Kai would never have guessed he’d Awaken, much less confess in a Death Zone. But he was here now, and he might as well make the most of what he can.
He smiles, mustering all the charm of an idol, leaving his dimples just the way he knows will make his fans squeal. “Yes, Sunny. I’ve been in love with you since the day a nightmare creature tricked poor old me in a well. Maybe not then, but… you get the idea.”
A storm rages in Sunny’s eyes, as he gapes in shock, looking at him as if he were a dream. “This can’t be real.”
“But it is,” He chuckles, melodious and gentle, “My knight, it’s the truth you seek.”
A blush definitely appears on Sunny’s face if it wasn’t there before. He’s silent, and Kai almost fears the worst until he hears the words tumbling from his mouth, “…Is this a date then?”
He pauses, processing what he had just heard. A full blown laughter soon erupts from him, bright, cheerful. “I should have known, you try to bring the best out of me even in times like this.” Kai blinks, and he’s met with a universe of stars in Sunny’s eyes. Dreamy. “It can be, if you wish it.”
“I do,” He says, “Despite… my archer to be so barbaric to confess in a death zone, as everything crumbles around us, I do wish of it.”
Heat creeps up his cheeks at the endearment. My archer, he says, my archer. The ring of truth had never been so satisfying, never so all consuming before; Kai had to struggle to form a sentence. “It’s romantic in a way,” He mutters at last, finding Sunny’s hand and taking it in his, intertwining them together. Sunny doesn’t fight back, instead enveloping his hands with his. “A great tragic story ends just like that Sunny.”
“I didn’t know,” Sunny says, huffing and crossing his chest. “I’m from the outskirts, we don’t do romance.”
“Then I guess I’ll have tons to teach you.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Sunny says, a shadow of a smile dancing on his face, “…Thank you.”
Kai smiles, knowing just then, he’ll burn the world for him, for his shadow, for his dear knight in darkness; and it couldn’t possibly been better.
In the depths of the Forgotten Shore, an archer and a shadow sit, leaning atop one another. Their hands are intertwined, as they tell of tales beyond the land, of a world they yearn to return.
But they have each other, Kai thinks, as he looks to the sky, imaging the stars in another world, before the image is shattered and another takes its place—a boy of raven hair and onyx eyes and the most beautiful voice in the world. He thinks of phoenixes, of rebirth, of light at the end of the tunnel. The boy next to him snuggles closer, and all Kai could do was believe: cause’ like a phoenix, you light up the night, and I’m reborn with a fire under your grasp.