Chapter Text
"I trusted you... only we understood each other!"
Pomegranate woke to a cold sweat. A dream? A nightmare, no, a vision? Wait, no. A memory of the past? What was this unsettling chill? Why, now? It has been months. She had moved on, just as supposed to. Was never meant to get attached, after all. It was all for Her grand vision. So what was this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach? She did what had to be done. Without a second thought.
You know that's not true.
"Silence," the crimson priestess muttered, quieting her thoughts. She pushed the covers away, letting her legs fall off the side of the bed. Pomegranate held her robe over her chest as she moved the standing pomegranate mirror, cotton belt in hand.
It was late still, evidenced by the moonlight slipping in through the curtains. But Pomegranate doubted she could fall asleep right away after that... echo of the past. She uprooted and shattered that sugarglass flower long ago. She wrapped the fabric around her waist, tying it further down the front. Pleased, she looked up, looking at her reflection in the dark and—
"Look at you, imitating me now, are you, my dear?"
A warm whisper in Pomegranate's ear spoke. Those dark lips and hauntingly, ice blue eyes... that pointed face that looked so delicate in the starlight. Pomegranate's breath hitched at the sight. She shut her eyes tight, turning her head, and waving a hand, "Shoo, you are naught but a mere shadow."
What was she thinking, quickly redoing her belt, tying it in the back. She fell out of that habit months ago. It had no use to her since she left the Pantheon of Starlight with what she wanted, she no longer needed to remember the little things. How she would brush Starfruit's hair, how she would help with Starfruit's robe, how she would kiss her on the cheek as she bid her farewell for the day—oh, Witches! What was she thinking?
"Oh, my dark mistress..." Pomegranate mumbled in prayer, "Take her from my thoughts, my mind... I cannot stand it."
But Dark Enchantress couldn't help her. Not now. Not as things are.
"Pome, come look! Look how bright the stars are tonight. How they shine!"
"I'm coming, alright! Patience, Starfruit."
Pomegranate turned her head, seeing a faint vision of Starfruit guiding a younger her to the night sky, before the two vanished. She swallowed hard, biting down that fear in her throat... and approached the glass doors to the balcony. She pulled back the crimson curtain, the shine of the moon masking the priestess's face. Her hand slid to the knob, gently opening the door and letting the cold breeze in.
The stars. Oh, what was that one again? Taurus? And that, Circinus Little Giant?
"And that one is my favorite, Ursa Gelata Major!"
The crimson priestess sighed, allowing herself to drape against the balcony rails. Such little, insignificant things. And yet, she remembered it all. She couldn't seem to forget. She wanted to forget, so, so badly, for her dark mistress; because such feelings will only get in Her way.
Yet, a grain of flour in her dough ached to reach out into the night sky, to hold one of the stars, and be with her again. She ached to be in Starfruit's arms, yearned to be at her side, begged to return to the Pantheon and apologize profusely. Wanted to sob into her chest. Wanted to lean into her embrace.
But that will never happen, you are well aware.
After all, it was you who poisoned the Nebula with darkness, it was you who became her cancer, it was you who dug this grave.
Pomegranate was the true fool. What a pathetic sight to see.
Oh, how her heart longed for the High Oracle of the stars.
She pulled a sleeve to her eyes, wiping the milk escaping her eyes as she couldn't hold it back any longer. She sobbed into her hands and pressed her face against her legs. She... regretted leaving as she did. Regretted how it had to be this way. Regretted how she knew she could never muster the courage to face her again; she couldn't after what she's done.
Starfruit gazed at the murky waters of the Nebula Springs, brushing her fingertips over the surface. She sighed longingly, as she put her head to rest on the fountain.
How could you...?