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In the beach, in all lifetimes, The sun would dim in Ibarra's life. The path downtrodden will be erased by the riptides of the sea as the young man finds himself trapped and helpless. And in every lifetime, at the beach, Elias will always be there. To risk his life, to save the drowning Ibarra from his own hapless self, even if it means risking his own life all for it.
In the night, the young Ibarra closed his eyes as he wept silently, That unknown anemoia of a life unlived reaching him once more, in the form of Elias, the man whom he saved in that fateful day. Since then, hehas been changed. Nay, I simply returned to form, he thinks. It has been a long time since he was truly himself. He even agrees that maybe, there were not a time in his life he was himself until the sea dared to erase all footing, erased all pretenses of act and play. For when the hot sun, burned his eyelids as it set, It was in the darkness of the night where he grew to be himself. And that was what was scary to him.
"Whenever I look at the dark sea, amd the starry night sky, it makes me emotional." Ibarra continued, as the Moreno man who stood by him as the bone cold sea dared to hit their feet, as the sandy corals dug into their soles more, opening microtears and scars that ligjtly flare up pain in the skin. "That.. No matter what happens, I have to make the best of my life still." He murmured quietly, now opening his eyes to the dome of stars up above.
It was beautiful. The myriad constellations that simply shone and did not care whom it was invisible towards. Lonely, yet in tandem with all surrounding light that has spent billions of years travelling through empty dead space to reach them. Ibarra once rejected this thought, that he could resound his brightness in the day, where the sun of obligation and duty blazed everyone to look away, that shone brighter than any light of authenticity, But here, in the dark sky, the pale star that was Crisostomo, in his own fear of uncertainty, he not only entertained this thought, but became it; of becoming more than just an Ibarra.
Becoming truly, himself.
"I understand. I know exactly what you mean." Elias said. A man of few words, yet a man full of understanding, this guy was, Crisostomo thought to himself. He took his hand once more, and held it tight as Elias moved his feet off the cold bitterness of the sea and back into it, walking somewhere closer to shore, somewhere closer to home, to land. To warmth.
"Lets go back, Crisostomo." Elias murmured once more, his gaze filled with such a deep understanding and certainty of Ibarra's languishing sentimentality. As if he too, spent an entire lifetime vehemently rejecting himself until another came to his life to break all that pretenses of apathy and nonchalance to make him see that, 'ah, maybe I am a romantic too.'.
As the stars glimmer in the sky, The river, and the sea winding and unundulating restlessly, gazes at it too. And the dark sea, now also glimmering with glowing algae in bright blues and greens. As if becoming a reflection of the abyss above. Nay- he was not becoming someone else, no. He too, is simply becoming himself too. An abyss, gazing towards himself, an Abyss who saw himself looking at another with sentimental, familiar, and loving gazes.
The sky and the sea, two sullen and dark beings, yet bright and beautiful in the spots that lay to those who see. The sea and the sky, who saw eachother in their reflection, in their gaze. The abysses that dared look saw the abysses look back, in love, in aching familiarity, in a deep bone certainty that knows they complete eachother.
As the two reach the shore, their hearts full of melancholy and love, hid away at land, and at the sea, both the sky and it were blooming in starry colors slightly brighter, two halves returning to a symmetrical tapestry that mirrored eachother. All returning to one power.
Nothing was more important than becoming himself not inspite of his humanity but hecause of it. He thought. In this very moment, nay, In every moment to come, in his life, he added less value to the eternity of life nor what conforms. All he wants is to, simply be, and in a part of that being, always wanted to... Hold Elias in his arms as the dark sea that dares to swallow them whole one day tarnishes both their glow forever in oblivion.
But it doesn't matter anymore, does it? That light will exist still, in the universe, continuing to travel through dead space, until it reaches them once more in another beach, in all lifetimes. And as it once faded, together, someday, they'll simply shine once more.
...
"Hey." Elias whispered, his back slouching downward to reach the Mestizo's ear. Whispering, "If there is anything that troubles you, come to me, alright? I want to be that person- that friend- whoever I may be, in your life."
"And maybe, someday, together-" He added, a terse but quick pause that Crisostomo was fondly aware of, Elias, who always picked his words carefully; He who maybe wasn't that careful after all, and had to do another pace around his mind to fill in that extra care he needs. Wants to give to Crisostomo.
"Maybe, someday, together?" Crisostomo's grin could be heard with his voice, he already knows what he always wanted to say to him, But always biting his tongue at the last minute. They knew eachother like that, and despite this, Crisostomo never really cared on changing or wanting Elias to do something else in that regard.
In someones apartment, the night remained as such. The heat of the equatorial airs flowed inside, making the night usually warmee compared to Europe or anywhere else. The bugs in a nearby forest blaring its song in the background. In a Television stand, with its lower floors filled with CDs and dusty game consoles that havent been touched in a good while, and other technologies now deemed outdated with its novel exteriors. Lie a picture inside a picture frame on the top shelf where the TV stood behind like a lone knight towards its petite prince.
Frayed inside that frame, were a cut out cropped image of two men standing beside eachother, two men, who, In the mestizo's terms, would have a 'problematic' height gap. Said mestizo who were shorter than the other man, were smiling expressively, while the other, the tall, sun-kissed chocolate skin simply moved the edges of his lips a few centimeters high, as if to show he did not want to be here in the first place, but was forced to. But in truth, he forced himself to come as the Mestizo, always so bubbly wanted a picture with him.
The moreno man hated getting his pictures taken, but for the shorter man, he'd always tolerate it. He secretly loved it, being adored and being cherished through pictures whose light has passed by now, but remains eternal in image. If he could, he would put all of these memories in a bottle so that if he dares to forget these precious fleeting lights one day as the night takes over, he could open it and be shine once more in his gaze, forever.
Just like that secret, another layed behind these two men, in hushed tones, or in none at all, The two were actually holding hands behind their backs, a view, a feeling, a touch, only forever privy to their memory, and a secret to all, even to those who'll see this photo, no longer in view, but in an attic, abandoned, hidden, where it has become more sepia-toned than what it is by now. Even until then, even if this photo has been obscured, Even if it has been destroyed by the indifference of time, Ibarra, and Elias, will have always and forever held eachother's hands in such tightness. Even if we cannot see it, they will always have held eachother so dearly, and so lovingly, making sure the other will not be let go of.
That light will forever move through the darkness and emptiness of space, reaching billions of lightyears, passing through all. That one power that will transcend all forms and it will do so, until one day, when the patterns of forever in the universe repeat once again, once their atoms, reshaped them anew, it will reach them.
And together, they will shine again, once more. (2)