Chapter Text
His tear ducts were already empty from the angry cries of war. But he had to cry.
Clumpy, unsettling textured oil mixed with the liquified Mana in his artificial veins. It had started to stream down his face, burning those tears into his paint job and probably tint the next years’ worth to come. He knew, but didn’t care.
Oh, his dear daughter. Deer daughter.
He didn’t fill his water reserves because he thought it was going to be different. Safer. Like that traitor said when he disowned him, separated him from the only one who was apparently naïve enough to forgive him for his ‘dangerous’ action of letting someone live.
Now, he, Sunflower, was paying the price of that paranoid ‘brothers’ actions with his own little Dewdrop.
Oh, Dazzle Deer, what did this war have against your innocent soul?
Gazing up from the unsettling puddle of goop he made on the dirt and shattered rubble below him, Sunflower rested his eyes on the mutilated corpse of the one he promised to come back to. Rescue her from her uncle like a princess in a tower, even though she never liked those games.
The yellow bot twitched, flower growing out the back of his head wilting every more moment he cried his inner workings out. He wanted to hug her, tell her it was going to be okay, that she would live. But how was he supposed to do that when he’s scared his baby will turn to dust the moment he touches her? Terrified she wouldn’t even be able to hear him.
The dirt on her overalls, that on the days when he lived in what used to be the rubble now surrounding him, just meant she didn’t listen to him when playing outside. Now it held a meaning it was never meant to.
A voice box that used to produced sounds of childlike joy, fallen out of its housing and onto shattered wood and concrete floor.
Those big, green doe-eyes used to hold so much joy. Now only one of them was green, the other crumpled on the floor. The socket it once sat in warped beyond identification.
And a face of innocence. Half of the metal partially peeled off her head like dead skin by the antler that used to rest above her high eyebrow, exposing the warped exoskeleton underneath.
Sunflower wanted to vomit. His sweet baby girl didn’t deserve this.
Something cold touched his shoulder and his head snapped over. Looking through the goop covering his eyes, Sunflower spotted that orange plated hands.
Eclipse.
The source of Sunflower’s ‘dangerous’ actions. The life he saved. An animatronic who gives just as many contradicting signals as a cat when offered affection.
With Eclipse’s face being completely void black, all his facial features being outlined by orange LEDs, it would be hard to see his expression through the weird sheer Sunflower’s tears gave him. It’s not like Sunflower could see his expressions anyways though, his headplate, which is just as flat as a dinnerplate, was facing away from him, looking at Dazzle.
Their fingers twitch and they shift in sync, then suddenly Sunflower can’t see anything. The sound of cooling fans that aren’t his own, echoing in his audio processer. Pressed close in a way that was uncommon for the stoic animatronic.
Just like how Eclipse will deny this show of affection when Sunflower teases him some day in the future, Sunflower wanted to deny the entirety of the events that led to it.
Orange painted hands loosens around Sunflowers shoulders, shift to the ever-wilting flower and gently caress the petals. A gentle pace. A comforting pace. It doesn’t loosen Sunflower’s grip on Eclipse’s lower torso, nor does it stop the wails that leave his throat.
Sunflower could feel the slight bubbling of Eclipse’s paint from the acidity of his tears. He didn’t completely understand how the compounds interacted, but it’s not like he can focus on that very long. He’s felt this feeling before, he thought he’d be used to it now, but just like time, it hurts just that little bit more.
Heh… A ‘little bit’ is an understatement. This time hurt horrendously more.
This emotional pain is so much different to when he lost Nexus and when he lost Atlas. And Atlas was the closest thing to a father he had!
So, Sunflower sat in it. Sat in that different shade of grief. Trying to understand it, despite the control it had over his body, his expression, his ability to see past this one moment. He didn’t even bother trying to process this world around him, despite being unable to focus on understanding the emotion for long.
Maybe that’s why he didn’t realise he’d been picked up and his head was nestled in Eclipse’s shoulder, until he felt something wrap around the metal protruding out his head, representing rays of a Sun.
It was soft.
Sunflower looks up at Eclipse, then at what was tied to his ray.
Purple ribbon.
Sunflower’s head snap to look directly behind him on the ground. When did Eclipse walk closer to her? When did he have the courage to do stuff like this?
He leaned further into Eclipse. Whether it was to avoid getting the acidic mixture leaking from his eyes on the little girl under him or to get more comfort, he didn’t know.
That same persimmon orange hand from earlier covered his eyes, and he felt the body underneath him shift as his head was moved to an equally orange shoulder.
They stayed like that for a moment. Sunflower could hear the echoing whispers of his voiceless friend through mana. They weren’t directed at him, at least, that’s what he thought. He couldn’t think straight enough to focus on who those whispers were for.
The gentle caress from earlier ran up and down Sunflower’s back. Shifting his head, Sunflower lifted his head slightly, eyes peering over that shoulder he’s grown maybe a little too comfortable in.
“Let’s go help with the recovery, get your mind off this.”
It took a moment for Sunflower to realise Eclipse was talking to him, and even once he realised, he still could barely respond with his wants. His voice wavered, quieter than usual, “Home first.”
The caressing stopped for a moment before Eclipse seemed to realise, he started again and shifted to caress his melted rays.
“You just want to change out of those clothes.”
The flower petal grazed Eclipse’s cheek as Sunflower nodded.
A chuckle echoed through the mana, “Of course you do.”
Eclipse’s hands shift to hold Sunflower just that little bit easier as a portal opens behind them, the light temporarily distracting Sunflower from the emotions in his gut.
Sunflower’s focus on the slight glow of the portal was cut short when Eclipse turned around to enter it, attention shifting to the body of someone he really didn’t want to leave. She wasn’t dead, not in his eyes, but at the same time she was. It made his body feel heavier than it was.
Then she disappears, replaced with the scenery of his newest home.
Well, more of a workplace then a home. It was never home, especially since Atlas met his demise out of his association with Sunflower, and Eclipse. Those guys weren’t really after Eclipse though. Didn’t even know he existed.
Sunflower was roughly dropped on one of the stray chairs in his dormitory, or so he liked to call it.
Pale green, almost milky white eyes, the ones that were staring off to nowhere a moment ago, snap to meet the orange pupils of his friend.
“Stay. I’ll get it for you.”
Sunflower didn’t say anything, not even through the mana waves his friend speaks through, giving silent permission for Eclipse to go through his wardrobe and find something for him to wear.
It’s only now, once Eclipse had walked away, that he reached up to touch his eyes. That weird solution he was crying moments earlier was dried up and attached to the different segments on the exposed portions of his cheeks. There was also a bit dried under his eyes, mimicking rheum.
Sunflower wanted to rub it from his face, from his eyes, but was hyperaware that he might reactivate the weird compound it if he did. Totally not scared that if he were to remove it, he’d start crying again.
He lets his hands drop to the faux fur under him, feeling the short fluff of the chair. The room around him offered a distraction with all its excessive details, but instead he focused on the book he was writing before he was called to help in the just concluded war. It sits there, on the small-yet-tall table next to him, open to a page with only two words; Wood Enchants.
Sunflower was tempted to continue writing, but he didn’t even know what to write. He was going to write his own spells under those words, but he forgot it already, didn’t use it in the war. Maybe he’ll remember it again someday.
A voice echoes through the mana in Sunflower’s mind, making his gaze snap to the persimmon and spider black figure, “Got you your hoodie, a dress seems like it wouldn’t be all that comfy right now.”
Sunflower’s eyes shift to the fabric held in hands covered in a coat of splintered silicone. He felt similar to how the word ‘blunt’ rests on the mouth after it is said. Clutching the hooded sweatshirt, he stood briefly, white eyes meeting yellow.
Suddenly, the clothing article is shoved back into orange hands.
“Actually, hold it,” The yellow bot muttered.
With an awkward grasp on the fossil grey hoodie, Eclipse just stood there as Sunflower undid the three clasps that held his red tailcoat to his body. The slightly damaged fabric was removed from cyber yellow exoskeleton and draped over the chair, exposing the magical runes carved into his upper back and down his arms. Sunflower removes his decorative belt as well, tossing it somewhere he doesn’t bother to remember. The mask across his mouth staying on.
It wasn’t odd for Eclipse to be in a situation like this, at least not to him, he did share a body with Sunflower when they first met. He is still mildly disappointed that Sunflower hasn’t caught his messages yet. Eclipse asking to swap the exoskeleton on their ring fingers was easy enough to understand, right? But then again, it’s been two years since then. Sunflower is definitely a little dumb if he didn’t catch on, the excuse of it being for a spell was just convenient for the timeframe seeing as they did need to exchange some part to do it.
He shouldn’t think about that right now, not the right time.
Sunflower casually removed the hoodie from loose grip, tossing it on, petals from his flower getting stuck.
“Ow, ow,” A couple of petals fall from the back of his head to the floor, tug of the fabric causing too much friction. The static making the ribbon bow on his ray stand up momentarily.
Sunflower brushes the hoodie, letting it settle fully on his frame, glancing briefly over to his reflection in the mirror on the wall behind the round table beside him. He looked comfy at least, beside the crud on his face, maybe a little silly even with his pants. Red and Yellow stripes, wide leg. The only pair he has. If he felt any better than he did, he might’ve thought about getting one more pair.
With a sigh, he focuses on Eclipse once more. “Let’s go, can’t bother fixing it any further.”
Eclipse’s expression shifts to one he hasn’t seen before, so he doesn’t care to try and label it, instead offering his focus to try to open a portal to town. The gentle flickering of light in front of him made his thought travel. Is that what her eyes did right after that happened? Or did they just flip off? Did they possibly light up a brighter green before probably shorting out?
Sunflower felt something detach from his face. Loosing focus on the portal, lifting his hand to feel where the rheum mimicking substance just disconnected from the paint.
Shit.
It was flowing again.
That weird substance was streaming down his face again.
Suddenly, the tear duct fluid container in the back of his head was pried open and being filled with a thinner liquid. Sunflower spun on his heel, eyes snapping to Eclipse’s. The orange bot stared back at him, mostly filled water jug in hand, looking vaguely startled that he turned around. Eclipse shifted up and down with an uneasy stillness, but Sunflower was quick to conclude that it was himself who was moving. The speed of his cooling fans shifted his upper body almost too fast for his mind to register, pulse of the electricity in his wires seeming to echo in his audio receptor.
Why was he filling his tear duct fluid?
He’s never done this before, or anything similar. Why is he suddenly doing this now?
He’s never cared like this.
Sunflower then realised that his friend was trying to talk to him through the mana, and he wasn’t listening.
“-ower?”
The deeper voice was dripping with… concern?
“What?”
Eclipse mutters under his breath, placing the water jug on the round table, water swishes slightly but settles quickly.
“You… Okay?”
With an aggressive rub to his eyes, Sunflower briefly looked away. “Yeah. Just Fine.”
Eclipse seemed unsatisfied with that answer but let out his iconic sigh of acceptance anyways. He knows Sunflower was a hard rock to budge when it came to if he was okay or not and Eclipse wasn’t going to fight that battle.
“Let me refill your tear ducts.”
Sunflower stood there for a moment, proceeding to shake his head and reach his hand up to close the inbuilt container.
“Okay then.”
Turing around, the yellow bot tried to conduct the spell to make a portal once more. The gateway flickers and struggles to stay open, but Sunflower walks through it like it’s no different. Eclipse follows after. If they end up somewhere they shouldn’t, he can at least blame it on the yellow one.