Chapter Text
It was finally the day.
Or at least, Nova thought it was the day.
She had a strong feeling about that, you know.
Ever since the single most crazy experience of her life, she had been counting the days for summer to arrive.
You see, last year when she met a version of her that came from the future, she was told that next summer would be when the changes in her life would kickstart. So when summer came, she kept expecting some miracle thing to happen.
But nothing did. Days passed by and nothing happened.
Well, something was happening, but it was not good.
Her people were on the brink of starvation.
The bloodfruit, the very one thing that kept them alive, was disappearing. There was no more growth. The trees produced less fruit each time and no matter how much her people rationed there was simply not enough anymore.
They were hungry all the time. Daywalkers were encouraged to not use their powers anymore to not waste energy.
Nova had lived many years of her life with plenty of food, but now? It was hard to remember the last time she ate a meal without wishing for the next one.
Of course she knew she was lucky. Because no matter what, she was the heir; even if she shouldn't have been, she did receive a little more than most. A little more, not enough to satisfy and definitely not enough to keep her same training schedule. Still, she did. Because she had to be strong for all of them, had to be ready for whatever was going to happen. So she pushed herself overtime, she worked harder than ever, even if it meant her body was fighting her mind. While she should be feeling stronger for the amount of training, she only felt weaker and weaker for the lack of nourishment.
But she had to keep going. Because she was going to be a leader, she was allegedly going to save everyone. She needed to be strong enough to do that. And, well, there was a second reason.
Victor.
Her vampire.
She wanted to be strong enough to keep him safe if she had to. Nova was very much aware of the likelihood of a war sparking and she knew vampires were short on bloodfruit as well. While the extent of their problem was unknown to her, she could guess it was probably just as bad.
So yes, she had been counting the days. Not only to see him again but also in the hope of helping her people.
When her father informed her that they would head to the old orchard, when he told her to assemble a group of young people to join on the quest, she had a feeling this was it. It was finally the time.
Being honest, Nova was scared. Scared of what was going to happen, about a possible war, about her not being enough this time to change things. Even if future Victor and Nova had told them things would work out, her mind couldn’t help but to overthink. What if she went way too confident and did something wrong or different that would lead to a different outcome? What if she was not confident enough and she did not have the strength to step up when needed? What if she decided to act at the wrong time? What even was the right time? She wanted to scream; they thought they were being helpful but only made it all harder. Before, she would probably just follow her guts. But now how could she even know if that was an instinct telling her or just some crazy thing she thought was right because of the future she had seen?
Hell, she cursed all of them sometimes for doing that to her. Her future version for being so comprehensive, future Victor for spilling too much but not enough, and her Victor for just existing. His existence was enough of a headache for her already.
Still, her heart was beating fast when her father told her to start their journey.
In the last year, her visions of Victor became… confusing. It was not like she never saw him again, but now that she knew who he was, they happened more sporadically, and were more hazy; sometimes she could see where he was, that being in class, at the woods, in his room… and other times she could barely make out his face. Each time things got blurrier, she hoped that was a sign they were going to meet soon.
There was a pain in her chest, growing more each time she looked around to notice there was a small number of adults in the group, even fewer the older they got. The teenagers ended up being chosen mostly because of their remaining strength. So many of her people were too weak to travel and join the harvest, and knowing the dangers, they couldn’t send anyone who wouldn’t be able to fight and defend themselves.
They were so on edge that when a sudden voice spoke up, everyone jumped into action.
Nova froze for a millisecond seeing the figure of a guy coming closer; please don't be Victor. Please. I don't know how I can protect him now if it is. The sun seemed to be in her favor because quickly she could see it was not her vampire; actually, he didn’t even look like a vampire. So when Ray was about to waste very precious energy attacking him, she ordered for all of them to stand down.
“Hold on! Who are you and what are you doing here?” She asked, maintaining her distance, in these times, nothing was too safe.
“Hi! My name is Zed, my car broke down close to here and I was wondering if there was a mechanic I could use.” The guy, Zed, answered with a friendly smile.
“Yeah, as if we would buy that, vampire!” Ray half screamed, which made Nova shut him off with a stare; he needed to learn how to keep quiet.
“Vampire? No, no, I'm a zombie.”
Nova’s eyebrows shot up. A zombie? She knew almost nothing about them. Only that they existed.
“How did you even get here?” She wondered.
“Oh, I was driving, and then my Z band went crazy… and now I'm here.”
Before she could say anything, her father approached their group. “Nova, what is the meaning of this? I hope you have a really good reason why this intruder was not immediately destroyed.”
She took a deep breath.
“Dad, I don't think he's a vampire. Look,” she turned to Zed, “zombie, smile.”
Immediately he did, which kind of made her want to laugh, he followed instructions with no question.
“See,” she gestured to his face, “no fangs. He is a zombie, look at the color of his hair. Vampires don't wear green.”
Ray once again spoke up, “And how would you know that?” He asked.
Because I've met one of them. It was the thing she couldn’t say. So before her father could get any ideas, she said in a dismissive tone,
“Because I know how to read a book.” She turned back to her dad. “Look, he could help us on harvesting the orchard, and then we could fix his car. How about that? He seems full of energy.”
While her father thought, Zed jumped in to add, "I'll literally harvest your entire orchard if it means I won’t get air-fried. And help me leave here.”
Surprisingly, it worked.
“Fine. But he’s your responsibility, Nova. Make sure he doesn’t screw up.”
She nodded firmly before they returned to their journey.
As if she did not have enough on her plate, now she had to make sure no one tried to kill that zombie.
They kept going, which meant Zed now wanted to learn about everything.
“Wow, the way you came from me, those vampires must really have you spooked.”
“You don’t know the half of it…” she sighed.
The rest of the walk was spent explaining about daywalkers, vampires and the centuries-old hatred. She tried to keep it pretty neutral, but here and there Ray kept adding some prejudiced opinions that she couldn’t really counter without sounding suspicious.
It was a good distraction. It helped her to not think that much about how she might see Victor soon.
Sun, would he even remember her? Did he think about her half as much as she had thought about him? It has been almost a year, a lot can change in that time.
She had to focus; they exited the tunnels now, and she was ready to give out her best. She would find a way to fix this, no matter the cost.
…
Victor’s skin was tingling in anticipation.
While he waited far too long for his aunt to step back in the sun and make sure it was alright, he fought the urge to just go past her. He wanted to scream, I know it's okay, I've been in the sun before. But he couldn’t. So he resigned himself to waiting. And having some small talk with the blonde cheer-thing girl next to him.
When she arrived, for a moment he just spotted the blonde hair and almost had a heart attack. He was ready to jump into action if that was Nova. Actually no, he was ready to help no matter who it was; he would just be freaking out more if it was his daywalker girl.
In the end, he did convince her to let the girl be a part of the harvest and, since they really had no one to spare, she had said yes.
Things have been really tense in Shadyside, just one bloodfruit was something so rare to come by and they were desperate. Hence the ‘leaving the city in hopes of finding food in the old orchard’.
His whole body was itching at the chance of finally seeing Nova again.
He had wished for it every night. Saw her face at every corner, dreamed of her in every dream. He had a problem, it was a fact, but he didn’t really care because it was her.
So yes, he did explain all he could to the newcomer, but the whole time he was focusing on what could be waiting for him at those gates. Or at least, who he hoped would be there.
When the whole group moved to finally step into the sun, Victor had to do some extra focus to make sure his dark stone wouldn’t activate from all the strong feelings rushing inside of him. He had missed the sun, even if he had only been in it for a little while. The sun was proof he wasn't in Shadyside, it was proof there was some hope for his future. Also, the sun made him think of Nova, of her touch and how warm her hands were.
They walked ahead, going down the hill when he heard the screams.
“Daywalkers!”
“Vampires!”
There was a mass of white ahead of them. Luckily for him, the daywalkers decided to go there the same day. All the luck he hasn't had his whole life was spent now. There were a million ways he could have missed Nova, but no, they chose the right day, the right time to be there.
And suddenly people were running, everyone trying to reach the orchard. He ran as well, but it was not the orchard he was aiming for.
When they reached the gates, for some reason everyone was outside, which of course meant instant arguing. He paid no attention to what people were saying; his eyes were searching the crowd as he got closer and closer. Until he found her.
There in the middle.
Nova Bright.
The girl of his dreams.
Moon, he had missed her so much the last year. All he wanted to do was step forward and end the distance between them.
He was trying to convince himself of the cons of doing just that when she found him and their eyes met.
If there weren't dozens of different heartbeats around him, he could have heard hers; unfortunately, that was not an option, so that led him only to analyze her face the best he could with the sun interfering a little with his vision. She looked even prettier than what he remembered.
One thing he noticed was that her face was completely blank. She did not smile back at him or say anything really. They were only a few meters apart, but suddenly he felt like the distance was bigger. While a discussion arose, he did use the opportunity to get closer; now he was almost right in front of her.
It's you. His soul screamed. He was glad, though, that this was not the first time he was seeing her; imagine what he would have done. Now at least there was no true surprise, just a lot of longing and yearning. That he was used to.
He barely noticed when all the vampires and daywalkers prepared to attack. He was still just looking at her. Vera apparently was trying to do something and was stopped by the newcomers. There were more than one?
Irrelevant, his mind discarded the question as soon as it popped up. Nova deserved 100% of his attention.
He focused again when her name was called. “Nova, you’re in charge.”
Wait, what did he miss? In charge of what? And who was the guy next to Nova that had her smiling?
“Victor, show them who rules the mountain.” Fuck, he really should have paid attention.
His aunt never ever gave him any sort of trust; why would she pull something like that now? His eyes grew a little frantic, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do and what they had talked about before.
He looked back at Nova, hoping for anything, really. And she did not disappoint, for she discreetly moved her lips, forming the words ‘Let’s get moving.’ Since it was not an explanation, he guessed it was an appropriate answer for him to give.
So, trusting her, he projected his voice, looking at his aunt. “Let's get moving, then.” Which earned him a bunch of whistles and applause.
Right away people started to move the carts back in the direction of tunnels and he got really worried about what he had missed.
He looked ahead to see the daywalker leader pulling Nova to the side, so he decided to ask Addison, the not-a-daywalker, and hope she didn’t think he was stupid.
She was next to other people, which meant first there was a round of introductions.
“Hey,” she looked at him happily. “That's who I was talking about. Victor here made sure I was not thrown in a dungeon.” She pointed to her friends, "That's Zed, Eliza and Willa.”
Zed was the one next to Nova earlier. So he was an outsider as well…
“Nice to meet you.” He waved at them. “Addison, I was hoping you could clear up what was decided, I kind of got a little overwhelmed there and lost a little bit.” Most of it actually. But they didn’t need to know that.
Her eyes, though still kind, moved for a moment to something behind him before returning to his. “Oh don’t worry, we'll be here to help you. We need to find the keys to open the orchard and you and that daywalker Nova are in charge of the people left behind. We’ll stay at camp.”
Humn. That was… strange. And his aunt just agreed to that? Maybe he showed more than he should. Because the guy, Zed, jumped in, adding,
“And both agreed to share.” Victor's eyebrows shot up; once again, that was noticed. “Do you think they’ll not respect that?”
He thought about how to answer for a moment; if he had this chance, he wouldn’t throw it away. So carefully he replied, “I don’t know… I'm not usually included in the decision-making.”
Zed sighed, “That’s okay. We’ll figure it out. Now go pick up your things while we check this camp's condition.”
Thanking the outsiders, Victor turned back to his dispersing people. He couldn’t believe his luck; his aunt would just let him be here with Nova? This was insane. He was already thinking about the things he wanted to do with her, to show her, when he realized he was one of the last ones there. Oops.
He looked once more for the retreating daywalkers, he would have time for that later.