Chapter Summary -> Nephis and Sunny: You are being saved. Do not resist.
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Nephis had always found the flow of time curious.
When she wasn't paying attention to it, it seemed to pass almost impossibly quickly. One moment could turn into an hour, an hour into a day, and before she knew it, another month had already gone by, and February had arrived.
When she wanted time to move faster, however, it seemed to acquire an entirely opposite nature.
Like now.
She glanced at the nearest clock, then immediately regretted it. Five minutes. That was all the time that had passed since it began.
Nephis resisted the urge to sigh. Five minutes since the beginning of the event, and she already wanted to leave.
Alas, she could do nothing but maintain the smile on her face as another camera flashed.
"Thank you, Saint Nephis. Just one more, please!"
She turned slightly, allowing the photographer to get another angle, and the camera flashed again.
Her smile remained perfectly composed through it, and through the next ten "last photos" the woman asked for. Inside, however, she was contemplating whether setting the camera on fire would be considered rude.
She considered it for a while, but ultimately decided that it probably would, so she smiled instead.
It was baffling just how fake it all felt.
Here, even the misery had been curated. The charity event had been set up right at the edge of the Outskirts, where the difference between the wealthy center of the city and those who had been left behind was impossible to ignore, yet it was still not as bad as it was deeper inside.
The streets were rough and poorly maintained. There was dirt beneath people's shoes and grime along the walls of the older buildings. The houses were small, some of them visibly in need of repairs. People walked around wearing clothes that were old and worn, their faces tired from lives that had clearly not been easy.
And yet, so close to the city itself, it was nowhere near as bad as Sunny had told her it truly was.
Not as bad as it truly was. That was what the organizers wanted everyone to think.
Look at them, they seemed to say. Look how poor they are, and yet they still smile. Look how difficult their lives are, and yet they persevere. The human spirit can overcome anything, they proclaimed.
Of course, it would not do to show what things actually looked like. It would ruin the mood if the cameras captured the people who had not been lucky enough to endure. The sick, the starving, those who had lost family members to Gates or Nightmare Creatures, the ones who had simply been worn down by years of poverty until there was nothing left for them to overcome.
Those people did not make for good publicity, so the cameras were pointed toward the charming parts instead.
Worst of all? She could see their point even if she didn't agree with it. Performative as it was.
Nephis smiled again, and it was met with another flash. She wondered how many photographs would be taken before they were allowed to leave. Too many, most likely.
Turning her head slightly, she looked toward Sunny.
He stood a short distance away, wearing a placid expression that screamed just how comfortable he felt so close to "home." Anyone watching him would probably think he was completely at ease.
Nephis knew better. The slight twitch in his cheek gave him away. So did the way his smile became just a little too wide whenever someone approached with another request for a photograph.
He hated this with all of his being.
Sunny had spent his life in this place, seen all the ugliness that had no place in this kind of event. For him, this might as well be a slap to the face. The fact that he was keeping his mask on as well as he did said quite a lot about his acting prowess.
Nephis' gaze drifted away from him and toward the woman standing nearby.
Their sister. Or at least, that's what the world considered her to be.
Despite being the apparent heirs of Clan Song, they were never allowed to attend these things without one of the Song princesses being present. There was always someone hovering nearby, ostensibly there to assist them, but in reality there to make certain that neither of them decided to do anything inconvenient.
This time, that person was Master Hel.
She certainly seemed to enjoy her assignment, what with how close she was standing to Sunny. At that very moment, Hel leaned closer to him, smiling brightly as one of the photographers called for the two of them to pose together.
Nephis could not help but stare in disbelief.
The Master seemed perfectly comfortable hanging off an increasingly uncomfortable Sunny's side, one hand resting lightly against his arm as she smiled toward the cameras.
Nephis' expression remained unchanged. Inside, however, she decided that if Hel moved any closer, she would set her on fire. Ki Song had plenty of daughters already; surely she wouldn't miss such a foolish one.
Apparently, some part of Hel's atrophied survival instincts seemed to recognize the danger she was in, because the woman suddenly shivered.
Nephis' lips curved upward ever so slightly. Good.
She was just about to look away when she noticed Sunny staring at her, his eyes full of amusement.
In return, she shot him a warning look. He had been worse when a Night Master had tried to act the same way Hel did, and she had said nothing. To be fair, she had been too busy trying not to laugh at how cute his expression had been.
Sunny's amusement only grew, and Nephis decided that she would deal with him later.
The event continued.
And continued.
And continued.
By the time it finally ended, Nephis had lost track of how many photographs she had taken, how many hands she had shaken, and how many variations of the same speech about hope and perseverance she had been forced to give.
When the last of the cameras finally moved away, she allowed her smile to fade. Her jaw was aching.
"Well, that was fun," Hel said brightly.
Nephis looked at the woman, wondering if the trouble she would get in for setting her on fire was worth the satisfaction of doing so. It was a very close argument.
"You could say so," she answered politely.
Sunny glanced toward the street, apparently searching for the fastest possible route away from the event and the Song princess.
Hel either didn't notice or chose not to care.
"We should celebrate," the petite woman said instead. "There is a rather nice restaurant nearby. We could go get something to eat."
Nephis raised an eyebrow.
The way she had worded it sounded like she was invited, but her tone clearly implied that she was only referring to herself and Sunny. A minuscule part of her was quite impressed, both by her boldness and the complete lack of survival instincts involved.
Sunny decided to intervene before the other woman could dig herself any further.
"I apologize." His tone implied that he wasn't feeling particularly sorry. "I already have plans."
Hel's expression fell slightly. "Can't you postpone it?"
Nephis noticed him looking at her sideways before answering.
"No, I have already postponed it for far too long."
Without waiting for the Master's answer, Sunny placed a hand on Nephis' shoulder, and immediately after, the shadows beneath their feet expanded, swallowing both of them.
Nephis glanced toward Hel one final time and couldn't help but smile smugly at her. Then she mouthed four simple words.
"Nobody will believe you."
Hel's baffled expression was the last thing she saw before the shadows finished enveloping them.
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The shadows receded, and Nephis found herself standing in a small park.
One that she easily recognized from Rain telling her about the visit she had made along with Sunny.
Immediately, her attention was drawn toward a tree standing near the center of the park.
It was withered, its bark cracked and gray, almost sickly in color, with only a handful of stubborn branches reaching toward the sky. The tree looked as though it had been dying for years, and yet, somehow, it was still alive. More importantly, it looked as though it had no intention of giving up.
Nephis glanced at the person standing by her side, to whom that description could also be applied.
Then again, it could also be applied to her in a way.
When he noticed her questioning glance, he merely shrugged.
"Since I'm here already, might as well visit my parents."
Her gaze returned to the tree, and this time, she looked at the six marks carved on its trunk. Three for Sunny and his parents, and the other three for Saint Jet and hers.
Nephis stared at the marks for a long moment, then looked back at Sunny.
"Why bring me along, if you don't mind answering?"
Sunny hesitated briefly before doing so.
"Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the past, but also the future." He looked aside, a thoughtful frown appearing on his face. "And what that means for the two of us."
Nephis hesitated upon hearing that. For some reason, the seemingly innocuous words filled her with apprehension.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything, and then, without needing to discuss it beforehand, they walked toward the tree together.
Sunny stopped right in front of it.
He stared at the three older marks for a long time, his expression complicated in a way Nephis had learned to recognize in him. There was grief there, but also affection, regret, and something else that she could not quite put into words.
Slowly, he raised a hand and traced one of the marks with his fingers.
"I was ready to die. Back then." A sad smile appeared on his lips. "I was little more than a dead man walking, still moving out of nothing but inertia and a refusal to die that easily."
Nephis remained silent, waiting for him to be done before interceding.
"Then the First Nightmare happened, and I decided to live on anyway. If only to spite everyone." Sunny took a deep breath before continuing. "It turned out that I didn't like that answer much. So I gave Eirene a different one. Pity I have been so bad at actually following it so far."
Sunny chuckled self-deprecatingly, his fingers slowly tracing the same mark. The one that was meant for him.
Without saying anything, she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Sunny glanced at her, smiling faintly. Then, he gently took her hand from his shoulder and entwined his fingers with hers instead.
"However, if there is something that hasn't changed..." He looked at the marks again. "It is that I don't want them to be forgotten."
His eyes closed briefly, grief, affection, regret, and something else flashing through his expression once more.
"In one of the stories my mom used to read me, a character said that someone isn't truly dead until the last person who knows them has died. And here I was, about to die myself. They and Rain were the only good things I ever had in life." His fingers tightened around hers. "So I came here and made these marks, hoping that even if I wasn't here anymore, someone would see them and remember them for me."
Nephis squeezed his hand. Only then did she notice that it was shaking.
"Is that why you asked me to remember you?" she asked softly. "So that they would be remembered too, in a way?"
Sunny chuckled, the sound coming out hollow.
"Yes and no. I did think about it, but my motive was far more selfish. I didn't want to be forgotten." He opened his eyes, a grim determination blazing inside them. "I still don't."
He inhaled slowly before continuing.
"I hate this world, Neph. I hate it with everything I have and more. So the idea that I would die and disappear without anyone realizing? The idea that it would just win this little tug-of-war we have going on? My petty little heart would never tolerate it."
Sunny looked at her then.
"I want to be remembered, Neph. Carve my name onto the very bones of this world so that it won't be able to forget me, no matter how hard it tries. I want to live, have a good life, the kind where I can do what I want, be happy, and die without a single regret. It's either that or death for me." His lips pulled up into a smile, cold as winter and as sharp as Divine steel. "I may not achieve it today. Might not achieve it tomorrow. Maybe not even in a thousand years. But I will."
Nephis said nothing for a moment.
She could feel the cold bite of the wind against her skin. She could smell the stench of the Outskirts, that particular mixture of dust, decay, and humanity that could never quite be scrubbed away. She could see the tension in Sunny's shoulders, as though he was squaring himself up to fight against the world itself. Hear the edge in his voice. But most of all, she could feel Sunny's pulse through their entwined fingers.
His heart was beating faster than before. So much faster.
She looked at him and saw what he tried so hard to hide.
Sunny was broken.
Nephis didn't like using that word. It felt insulting, demeaning, reductive. As though Sunny was a thing. Something that could be shattered and then put back together. However, it was the word that came closest to what she thought he was feeling.
Nephis had already noticed it when he returned to the Waking World. In the way he had stared at her, his eyes filled with so much love and hate that it felt almost physical. Foolishly, she had thought that she could fix him. That spending time with her, Rain, and their Cohort would just solve it all. And it did, to a minor degree.
Time could be the best medicine, but she, more than anyone else, knew that it couldn't heal a wound as deep as this one was. Her own, the one that had been inflicted so long ago by the Ghouls and the Spell, was bleeding just as much, if not more, than the first time, after all.
Sunny had become stronger than almost any human alive, had survived things that should have killed him countless times, and had built a life that was almost unrecognizable compared to the one he had once lived.
Yet a part of him was still that boy, carving lines into a tree in the hopes of being remembered.
Nephis tightened her grip on his hand.
"I don't think you will ever be forgotten."
Sunny snorted and looked away. "Yeah, hard to nowadays. I saw my face on three different billboards just today."
"I saw mine on four." Nephis couldn't help saying.
Sunny turned back to her with an irritated expression. "This is not a competition."
Her lips curved into a small smile.
"Sorry. What I was getting at is that you won't be forgotten. Simply because I never will."
He looked at her dubiously. "What makes you so sure of that?"
"I decided that I won't, so I won't."
Sunny glared at her. "Don't you dare say it."
"I wasn't going to."
"You were."
His accusation was so immediate, and so full of certainty, that Nephis couldn't help laughing.
Sunny joined her a moment later, their laughter echoing quietly through the little park before fading into the cold afternoon air.
When the silence returned, Sunny looked back at the tree. His fingers moved across the marks one final time.
Then he took a slow breath and let it out, his expression morphing into one of utmost determination. There was still conflict in his face, but the resolve beneath was as unbreakable as her own.
"I'm ready," he said calmly, his dark eyes looking straight into hers. "To speak about the future."
Nephis took one more look at him and nodded. "Do you mind if we make a quick stop before?"
Sunny glanced at her, confusion briefly flashing through his expression.
"Sure, but where?"
She squeezed his hand one final time before letting go.
"You spoke about the past. I would say it's my turn now."
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The room was quiet when they entered.
It was spacious, though not excessively so, and sunlight filtered through the curtains covering the reinforced glass windows, bathing everything in a soft golden glow. The walls were painted a gentle shade of green, while the decorations were sparse, carefully chosen to make the room feel lived-in without overwhelming it.
There wasn't much furniture.
A bed stood near one wall, beside a small table and a wardrobe. Several chairs had been arranged nearby for visitors and the medical staff, but otherwise, the room was almost empty.
Nephis stepped inside and heard Sunny quietly follow.
She made a small gesture toward the medical staff, and they immediately understood. Without a word, they gathered their things and left the room, closing the door behind them.
Only then did Nephis allow herself to relax.
She walked toward one of the chairs and crouched beside it and the woman seated on it.
Her mother's blank eyes looked back at her. Just as vacant as they had always been.
Nephis studied her face for several long moments, examining every little detail with practiced ease. Her breathing was steady, her body showed no signs of distress, and everything appeared exactly as it should. Everything had been perfect when she checked that morning, but it never hurt to make sure.
Only after confirming that nothing was wrong did she finally allow herself to stand up.
"Is she...?" Sunny's voice was quiet.
Nephis brushed a loose strand of hair away from her mother's face.
"Yes." A trace of bitterness entered her voice. "Not quite the heroic figure you would expect from the legendary Smile of Heaven, huh?"
Sunny quietly walked over until he was standing beside her.
He looked down at her mother for a short moment, then shook his head.
"No. I guess not," he agreed softly. "But she doesn't have to be. Smile of Heaven died to save who knows how many people, and now her Nightmare is over. Nobody can ask anything more of her."
A bitter smile appeared on Nephis's lips.
"I've heard that so many times. How heroic she was, how brave, how selfless. Eight hundred ninety-six people are alive today because of her direct help. I have read every single one of their accounts."
She stared at the hollow woman sitting in the chair.
"I remember doing so as a child, then looking at the empty husk you see now and wondering what it would have been like if that woman were still here. Would she have prevented the ruin of the Immortal Flame? My father's death? Grandmother's?" A quiet, humorless chuckle escaped her. "Is it selfish of me to think it would have been better if all those people were dead and she wasn't?"
Sunny placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
This time, Nephis was the one to take it off and entwine her fingers with his. He hesitated only for a moment before squeezing her hand in return.
"It is," he admitted easily. "But if I were offered such an exchange? I would agree without thinking twice."
Nephis smiled thinly. "I knew you were going to say that."
Sunny returned the smile. "And I knew you were going to point it out."
They shared a quiet chuckle, then Nephis looked at him.
"Do you mind...?" She trailed off mid-sentence, realizing how much she was asking.
But Sunny understood even though she didn't finish, as he always did.
"Taking a look at her string of fate?" he asked, just to be sure.
Nephis agreed silently.
He squeezed her hand. "I don't mind."
Something changed in his face, and the abyss that was his eyes turned even darker than it had been a second before. It lasted only for a second, but Nephis saw it anyway.
Pain.
His teeth clenched, and the veins in his forehead stood out sharply. His expression twisted with an agony that she had only seen in herself whenever she used her Aspect. She readied herself to activate it to soothe his pain.
Before she could, however, Sunny shook his head, and she understood.
It had been short enough not to necessitate her help, and there was no point in causing her needless suffering. That was what he would have probably said.
He took a slow breath, waiting until the pain subsided completely before voicing his findings.
"She doesn't have one. Her body has a string of life, but there isn't one of Fate attached."
It was to be expected.
Nephis had known from the very beginning that this would be the result, but some small, foolish, childish part of her had decided to hope nonetheless, despite knowing better.
"Thank you," she murmured quietly.
Sunny squeezed her hand and said nothing.
For a while, they remained like that, offering comfort to one another against their respective ghosts of the past.
Eventually, Nephis sighed and crouched again beside the chair. With only one hand available, opening the hidden compartment was considerably more complicated than it should have been.
She could have easily let go of Sunny and used both hands, but she didn't want to. She had grown far too comfortable with the warmth of his fingers intertwined with hers.
After a little struggling, she finally managed to pry the compartment open.
Inside was an urn made of stainless steel. It was completely plain, without engravings, ornaments, or anything else that might have made it look more significant than it was.
Nephis carefully retrieved it and held it up for Sunny to see.
"This is my father's urn."
Sunny looked at it oddly. "Seems a little... ordinary for the first Saint."
"That's exactly how he wanted it," she answered, her lips briefly quirking up. "Before challenging the Second Nightmare, he and my mother left instructions about how they wanted their remains to be handled. He was a fan of simplicity, and that didn't change when it came to his death, so his only instructions were a plain grave or an urn resting as close to my mother's remains as possible."
She paused when the flood of memories came crashing down.
"I used to talk to it." For a moment, her voice almost cracked. "I knew it was empty. His body couldn't be recovered, after all. But I still did. Maybe I thought his soul had latched onto it somehow. Maybe I thought this simple piece of metal meant something to him, even though nothing but recovering my mother seemed to."
A sad smile appeared on her lips.
"So I talked to it every day. I told it about what I learned, about the stories Grandmother told me, about my growing hatred for the Ghouls and the Spell." Her smile faded down to nothing. "Then one day, I just... stopped."
Sunny's grip on her hand tightened, offering his silent support.
It was the only thing keeping her from igniting into flames.
"I remember waking up and thinking, what was the point of it? Remember asking myself why I cared so much about the empty can of a man who could barely remember I was his daughter." Her voice became quieter. "That's when I began hating him, Sunny. Just like how I hated it all. This world. The people inside it."
She swallowed. Her throat was dry all of a sudden, and there seemed to be something stuck inside.
"And when Grandmother died... I hated myself most of all. For still thinking that maybe I could have done something to change the outcome." Nephis closed her eyes for a moment. "I still hate, Sunny. Maybe more than at any time before."
She took a slow breath, her gaze wandering back toward the hollow husk of her mother.
"It feels like a ravenous beast. One that demands nothing but the blood of those responsible for it." Her expression hardened. "Aster. Song. Vale. The Spell."
Each name felt like a blade, scraping her throat on the way out.
It hurt, felt like she was bleeding inside, but she paid it no mind. She was so used to feeling like that that she didn't even notice it anymore unless she paid attention to it.
"I engraved those names into my heart and never let them go. Just like how I will never rest until they are all gone."
Nephis squeezed Sunny's hand one final time before releasing it.
"You don't want to be forgotten. I know that, and I will never allow such a thing to happen."
Nephis inhaled slowly, and the black tar encasing her heart breathed with her. It urged her to continue. Demanded that she throw all caution, affection for the man beside her, and anything else that could hamper her objective aside and become the Star of Ruin her fate demanded she be.
"Whereas I... when all of this is done, I think it's best that nobody remembers me." Her eyes remained fixed on her mother. "Best if the monster known as Changing Star becomes a myth. A cautionary tale parents tell their children before bed."
Another deep breath, another blade scraping at her throat.
"I cannot stop, Sunny. I simply can't. If I do, if I ever stop moving... I'm afraid I won't have the strength to move again."
She stored the urn back into the compartment and closed her eyes. Their faces flashed before her eyes, mocking her with their continued existence.
"But I..." She inhaled and let it all bleed out of her. It would be back soon; it always was, but for now, she could let it fade into the background. "I guess I'm ready to speak of the future myself."
Sunny had remained silent throughout it all.
He hadn't tried to comfort her with empty words, hadn't told her that she was wrong, hadn't offered some easy answer to a wound that had festered for years.
He simply listened, and she loved him for it.
Instead of saying anything, he extended his hand, eyes free of any judgment.
Nephis looked at it, hesitated, and finally, after a second that felt too short and too long, took it.
The moment their fingers intertwined, she felt the familiar pull of the Dream Realm seize them both.
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They manifested quietly atop a broad platform of clear glass.
Nephis noticed the smell first: incense, ozone, and a faint touch of salt. Then she looked up at the ceiling, where an impossibly blue sky was painted in painstaking detail. Her eyes widened slightly as recognition settled in, and she slowly turned her head, taking in the immense chamber around them, easily capable of housing hundreds at the same time. Though it was to be expected of a temple dedicated to two Divines.
One glance at Sunny's grim expression was all it took to confirm her suspicions.
He smiled the moment he noticed her look, let go of her hand, walked a few steps away, and spread his arms with an almost theatrical flourish, as though wanting to banish the bad memories this place brought him with exuberance alone.
"Welcome to the Tears," he proclaimed grandly.
Nephis did not comment on how stiff his voice sounded as he said it. She could tell that he didn't want to talk about it.
Instead, she resumed looking around and was faintly surprised upon noticing the evidence that someone had been here recently.
The chamber had been cleaned. Dust had been swept away from the edges of the platform, several of the surfaces were conspicuously free of grime, and there were subtle signs of habitation that shouldn't be present in a place that had been abandoned months ago.
"I thought you didn't want to return here in case your presence woke up the Unholy," Nephis commented, curious about the reason.
Sunny dragged a hand across his hair, looking vexed and amused at the same time.
"And I stand by it. However, given how bad things look... well, a backup base of operations far away from the mess about to unfold seems worth the risk. Besides, if the guy above starts waking up, we'll be able to tell immediately." He smirked a little. "I also wove a Memory that should hide our presence completely as long as we don't use too much essence, or at least long enough to run away before Vaelkar wakes up completely. I'm awesome like that, I know."
"Humble, too," she added dryly.
"I know, right? By the way, don't leave the temple. The concealing weakens greatly when it comes into contact with the rain."
"Understood."
He paused, then glanced around the chamber. "Back to the matter at hand. I brought you here because I want to be completely sure nobody can eavesdrop on us."
Her gaze wandered across the room once more, and it eventually settled on a faded red stain on the glass beneath their feet. The last remnant of the Emotion Eater, perhaps?
Coming to a dark place from his past to speak of the future. It was almost poetic.
The thought reminded her of why they had come here, and the silence that followed suddenly seemed much heavier.
They stood there without speaking, neither knowing how to start.
How could it be that easy? They had both bared an ugly, vulnerable piece of themselves to each other, and there was no taking it back. There were so many things that needed to be said that choosing one seemed almost impossible. Their pasts, their plans, the future that waited for them, and countless things more.
Eventually, they both tried to speak at the exact same time.
"I..."
"I..."
They stopped, looked at each other, then laughed.
"Do you want to start?" they asked simultaneously.
Another laugh escaped them, strangely comforting in its ridiculousness.
Sunny shook his head, apparently deciding that if neither of them could find the courage to begin, he would simply force himself to do it.
"How about we start simple?" he proposed. "We both state loud and clear what objectives we have, and we go from there."
"Very well."
Sunny took a deep breath.
"I will free myself from the Shadow Bond, put Eirene to peace, shatter Fate, find a way to punch Weaver in the face, as well as anyone else who thinks they can decide for me." He paused, as if deciding whether to say more before he finally did. "And once all of that is done... I will retire and open that shop."
Nephis couldn't help the faint smile that touched her lips.
So many impossible goals, and he just recited them all with that casual air he liked so much to put on. She supposed that was part of his charm.
"I will kill the Ghouls, then the Spell." She paused, unsure whether to continue or not, only to do so a moment later anyway. "And if I am still alive after that... I will try to find another purpose to live. A less destructive one."
Sunny nodded, all traces of his previous levity gone.
"Easy enough, right? We have said the same to each other before. Proclaimed it, even. Yet we also avoided going into details. Skirted around each other. Pretended that our dreams exist in a vacuum and nobody else gets to interfere." His lips tilted upward briefly. "I think it's time we do so. Time to properly talk about the future. And now that we have made our objectives clear, it's time we talk about how we will handle them."
"We?" Nephis hadn't intended to sound so surprised, but she did.
Sunny, on the other hand, looked at her as though the answer should have been obvious.
"Yes. We." He let out a sigh full of exasperation. "Like it or not, we are, as Merias would say, 'entwined in Fate and Ruin.' The other is prone to be involved in whatever we do, even if we would rather not. So might as well talk it out now rather than wait for it to explode in our faces."
"Like it has happened so many times already," he didn't say, though both heard.
Nephis considered his words and found no flaw in his reasoning.
Ever since they had become Sleepers, events had conspired to keep them together. Their paths had crossed again and again, through the Awakened Academy, the Forgotten Shore, the Dark City, even when he finally returned from the Third Nightmare. Though admittedly, the last one was her doing.
Maybe it was destiny, or maybe it was just in their nature, but their paths kept intertwining. It seemed unlikely that Fate would suddenly develop a sense of mercy now.
Sunny was right; they had delayed such a conversation for far too long.
"Very well," she said. "My decision on the matter is clear. You have my full support in anything I can help you with for all of those objectives."
Sunny blinked, incomprehension flashing through his expression for but a moment before it turned into exasperation that was wholly directed at her.
"Couldn't you doubt at least a little before saying that?" he asked irritably.
A smirk tugged at Nephis's lips.
"Why would I? I already promised to help against the Bond. What's a few more things?"
He glared at her. "Because most people, when presented with such an array of enemies, doubt. And those things you so lightly mention are no small matter."
"Most people aren't me."
Sunny rolled his eyes, irritation growing in cadence with her words.
"You are a very frustrating person, you know that, right?"
"I do," she answered proudly.
"It's not a compliment!"
"I know."
"You..." Sunny stopped himself and exhaled slowly. "Forget it."
Her smirk widened a little.
Acting as though he had not seen it, he continued.
"I will gladly help you kill Anvil. That bastard more than earned it after killing Haughty." His expression morphed into a thoughtful one. "I don't like Ki Song, but that's not reason enough to kill her. I also hold no particular opinion of Aster, so you will have to convince me about them."
He paused, thinking deeply before finishing.
"As for the Spell..." His eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm in."
Nephis blinked, not having expected such a thing.
"That easy?"
"That easy."
She studied him for a moment and found that Sunny was completely serious.
"I have my own reasons to want the Spell gone, after all," he said, his tone implying that he did not want to speak about said reasons.
Nephis had questions. Many of them. But she could understand that she wouldn't get them without forcing the issue. And she wasn't going to do such a thing.
"Seems like it's all settled," she said, hardly believing it herself.
"Yeah," he agreed, seeming just as surprised as she was.
If she was being honest, Nephis had expected an argument of some sort to start between them.
They could hardly talk about things like these without one breaking out. She was quite relieved to find the opposite could be true, too.
"Turns out that talking things out is easier than bottling them down. Who could have thought?" he said lightly.
He smiled at his own joke, eyes twinkling with amusement.
Nephis didn't. His words had struck something inside her.
She remained silent for long enough that Sunny's expression slowly changed. First, the humor disappeared, then confusion appeared, and finally, his face settled into an almost pleading expression.
Nephis hesitated, then made her decision anyway.
This, too, had been postponed for far too long.
"Sunny, I think we need to talk."
"We aren't even dating yet, and you are already going to break up with me?"
The tone he employed was playful, but his expression wasn't.
She almost stopped then and there. She knew that the argument they had avoided before was sure to start this time, but she couldn't stay silent anymore.
Not when she could see, clear as day, just how bad it truly was.
"I have given you time. I backed off every time you made it clear that you didn't want to talk about it."
"Then keep doing so," Sunny interjected hurriedly. "It has worked out well so far, hasn't it?"
"Sunny..." She looked directly into his eyes. "I know you are not all right."
His expression hardened immediately.
"You haven't been well for a long time."
Sunny's jaw tightened.
"And I think we need to talk about it."
"Why do you keep insisting on that? I'm fine." His rebuttal came immediately, as fast as it was tense.
"Are you?" she asked seriously.
"Yes!" His voice echoed loudly through the chamber. "Why can't you just accept that I'm telling the truth? Why do you insist on looking at me like that?"
"Like what, Sunny?"
"Like I'm broken! Like I'm a broken little doll you cannot help but pity!"
Nephis remained still, listening patiently to what he had to say before saying anything else.
Her eyes, however, noticed something.
The shadows beneath Sunny's feet were convulsing erratically. They stretched, contracted, twisted into impossible forms, then collapsed back into something vaguely humanoid, their shapes changing so quickly that they almost became a blur of motion.
She looked him in the eyes, silently asking if he couldn't see how much it clearly affected him. He refused to answer, and so she talked instead.
"Do you really believe that," Nephis asked quietly, "or are you just trying to divert my attention to something else?"
Sunny said nothing at first, his chest rising and falling in quick, ragged breaths, as though his throat were filled with sand.
The silence stretched until his Flaw finally forced him to answer.
"The second."
Nephis exhaled slowly. She felt no triumph upon hearing that answer. Only sadness.
She stepped toward him, and then stopped.
Sunny had flinched backward. The movement was small, almost imperceptible, but she had noticed it anyway.
It hurt.
"I just want to help you," she pleaded.
"I never asked for your help," he answered coldly, bitterly. "I'm not something for you to fix."
Nephis almost snapped back, the words already forming on her lips, but she stopped herself in time. That was precisely what he wanted. Making her angry. Turning this into a fight. Retreating behind violence so that he wouldn't have to confront what he felt.
So she stopped, counted to ten, then to a hundred. Took a deep breath. And only when she recovered her cool did she speak again.
"You are right. You are not something to be fixed." She paused briefly, studying his expression before continuing. "So please, let me help you. Let us help you, if you want."
Sunny looked away, incapable of meeting her eyes.
"There are people who care about you now, Sunny. You don't have to face it all alone."
He looked away for a long time, still as a statue, and just as grim.
In the silence that followed, she could hear clearly the sound of the rain outside. Its eternal pitter-patter echoed sharply in a room that felt suffocatingly quiet and loud at the same time.
"I don't believe you," he said at last. "I can't. Why would anyone look at me and think I'm worth helping? Why would anyone look at the rat walking beside them and think he's worth something? I just can't believe it, Neph. Every kindness, every tender moment we share... a part of me cannot help but think it's a manipulation attempt. Think that you are just easing me into my chains so I won't complain when you finally use them."
"Sunny—"
He didn't wait for her to finish before interrupting her.
"If you care so much about this, then order me to do it." He smiled coldly. "It's that easy. 'Sunny, seek help.' Just three words, and it's done."
He tilted his head, eyes alight with a poisonous mix of rage and hopelessness.
"Go on, Master. Do it. You already 'broke' me once with an order. You might be able to fix me with another."
Nephis stared at him, finding herself at a complete loss for words.
He was trying to hurt her, and in the process, didn't even realize just how much he was hurting himself first.
She remained silent for a long time, then she spoke.
"You keep doing that."
The cold smile disappeared, replaced by confusion. "Doing what?"
"Trying to make me take the choice out of your hands." Sunny's expression flickered. "You get what you want without being forced to make a choice by yourself. And while at it, you also get a fresh excuse to hate me on top of all the ones you already have."
She tilted her head slightly. "Win-win, isn't it?"
"That's not..."
"Deny it, if you can and want to."
Sunny fell silent, his gaze dropping toward the glass beneath their feet.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then he looked up. "What about you?"
Nephis frowned, a foreboding sensation settling in her stomach. "What do you mean?"
The cold smile returned to his face.
"If I'm as broken as you think I am, then what does that make you?"
His laughter echoed through the room. It wasn't a happy sound.
"'I cannot stop, Sunny. I simply can't. If I do, if I ever stop moving... I'm afraid I won't have the strength to move again.'" He recited word for word what she had told him earlier in a mocking voice. "Look at you, Neph. You are practically a walking, talking sword. Revenge this, Ghouls that, the Spell has to be destroyed, et cetera, et cetera."
His expression twisted into something colder still. "Does a single day pass without you thinking about them?"
Nephis's fists closed tightly. "It doesn't."
"Then who are you to speak to me about this?" His voice sharpened. "How can you tell me that I'm not doing well when you yourself aren't? When you left me behind in that hell just so you could keep pursuing that damned revenge of yours!? If I'm broken, then what are you!?"
He stopped, eyes wild, chest rising and falling quickly. Nephis noticed something else in his eyes, something whose mere presence shocked her.
Fear.
Only then did she realize that something was wrong.
Pain.
A terrible, burning pain coursing through her very being.
She looked at herself and finally took notice of the shroud of white fire covering her from head to toe. Her Aspect had answered her emotions before her mind could stop it.
Nephis' attention landed on her hand, where she noticed the flesh bubbling, blackening, sloughing off, then being restored under her Aspect's might.
She lifted the burning hand toward her face, and the pain intensified immediately.
She tried to dismiss the flames, but nothing happened.
Her gaze fell to the floor next. The glass beneath her feet had begun to blacken and melt from the heat.
The flames flickered higher, drowning out the sound of rain outside. Soon, even Sunny's breathing seemed distant beneath their roar.
She was furious. At Sunny. At herself. At the world. At everything.
For one terrible moment, she wanted to burn all of it away.
The anger she felt, the grief, the guilt, the doubt, the memories. If she burned everything until there was nothing left except purpose, perhaps things would finally become simple. Perhaps she could become the emotionless monster everyone seemed so eager to believe her to be.
Something caught her attention the moment the thought settled into place.
A black band rested on her ring finger. The flames were licking across it, and the obsidian it was made of had started to melt quicker and quicker.
Nephis stared, with incomprehension at first, then recognition, and finally understanding.
The flames vanished, and with them, the pain disappeared too, followed by the malignant haze of purpose that her Aspect always sank her in.
For a few seconds, she simply breathed, then she looked at Sunny.
His posture was defensive, expression cold and filled with fury. But what she noticed the most was the fear inside his eyes. It... it wasn't for himself, but for her.
Sunny was concerned for her.
"You are right," she admitted emotionlessly.
He blinked, surprise flashing through his face. She didn't wait for him to intercede before continuing.
"I am broken. I have been for a long time. Maybe I always have been broken. And I might always be."
"What are you—"
"I'm broken, Sunny," she interrupted him. "Just like you are. We are both broken. Maybe beyond repair."
Words seemed to evade him after that, and she found no reason to stop herself from continuing.
Nephis took a slow breath. "So the only thing I can do is offer you a choice."
She held his gaze, looking into those abyssal eyes of his. Took in the grief burning in his eyes, the pain, the sheer fury born out of helplessness, and found that it matched the one that likely burned in hers.
"We can part ways here and now. Do our best to avoid each other. Ignore that the other exists. Or we can stay together and try to mend each other."
Sunny's expression twisted in disbelief. "Are you really throwing my own offer back at me?"
"Yes."
"You are crazy."
"I know."
"I don't want your help."
"I know."
Sunny frowned, his body language screaming that he was preparing to explode into a tirade. Then he took a long look at her and seemed to think twice.
He let out a long exhale. "You are a very frustrating woman, you know that, right?"
"I do."
Sunny flexed his jaw, looking thoroughly done with the conversation.
"Fine. You want to play the savior? That's fine. Do it. I invite you to try, even." He smirked then. "Just don't come crying if I'm better at this than you are."
"Deal."
They looked at each other then, Sunny with exasperation and she with a small smile.
He dragged a hand across his face. "I really, really hate you right now."
"I know." She hesitated, then added quietly. "I'm sorry. For pushing you like that."
He opened his mouth, stopped, opened it again, closed it. His teeth clenched, and he shook his head.
"Don't be." He shook his head again, as though trying to find the right words. "If we want this... mess we call a relationship to have any future, we cannot keep acting like this. I cannot keep acting like this. I'm sorry. For using your words like that just to hurt you." His eyes met hers. "If I'm being a stubborn idiot, then call me one. We are either equals on this, or it will never work out."
Nephis considered that. It had hurt to have her confession used like that against her, but she could also understand where he was coming from. And... as much as she didn't like to admit it, he hadn't been wrong either.
"I forgive you," she said, and then added, "And I didn't like that you called our relationship a mess."
Sunny offered her a small smile, then snorted upon hearing the second part.
"Can you describe it any other way?"
"I can't. But that doesn't mean I like it."
He stared at her, and she stared back. They both laughed.
The sound came out of their throats unbidden, bringing catharsis and a strange sensation of peace to the previously heavy atmosphere.
By the time they stopped, both their chests were heaving, exhausted from all the emotion and laughter that had taken place.
Nephis wiped at her eye and was surprised to find it wet. She didn't know whether it was from the laughing or the argument before, and she didn't particularly care to find out. There was just too much going on inside her head to pay attention to such a small thing.
She opened her mouth, about to suggest they leave this place and continue talking in a more pleasant one, but he beat her to it.
"Let's go on a date."
Nephis blinked, caught completely off-guard.
Had she heard wrong? She must have. There was no other possible explanation.
"What?"
Given his smirk, her reaction was exactly what he was looking for.
"You heard me. Let's go on a date. We have talked about the future, agreed on helping each other, shared some dark secrets, and even argued like a couple, but we are yet to go on one. So let's do it."
"What?" she repeated, still too shocked to say anything else.
"I'm serious, Neph," he said, and from his expression, she could tell that he really was. "Just the two of us. Not Changing Star or Lost from Light. Not two Saints, or heirs of a Great Clan. Just Sunny and Nephis. A walk. The cinema. An overpriced dinner. And whatever else is done on one of those. What do you—"
"Yes."
"—think?" He paused, surprised by how eagerly she had accepted. "Are you sure?"
"Completely."
"Would it hurt you to think twice before answering?"
"Yes."
"You are so frustrating."
"Too late for regrets now."
They looked at each other one last time, and then laughed.