Jet hummed quietly as she walked toward her table.
She was carrying a tray of food, filled with all the delicacies she could find. When she spotted one of the teachers covertly giving her a glare, she winked at the woman and smiled cheekily.
If they didn't want her around, they should simply approach her and say something. It wasn't her fault that the teachers' lounge at the Awakened Academy had the best food around.
She placed her tray atop her usual table and sat down, awaiting the arrival of the person she was here to meet.
While she did, she observed the teachers, hoping to find out through their gossiping if Rock and that one woman -Malachite?- had finally taken the hint and started dating. This place was great for many things, but among them, the best was the entertainment. Something was always happening, which made it her own soap opera for when she was bored.
Sadly, it didn't look like today was going to be an entertaining one. Not with the faces the teachers were making.
Jet could pinpoint how close they were to the winter solstice just by how grim the teachers looked. And now that there was only a little over two months left? They were very grim.
It reminded her of her own time as a Sleeper. There were many things she had forgotten over her life, but the fear she felt before entering the Dream Realm for the first time was one she didn't think she would ever forget.
Jet remembered the many days leading to the solstice, the way the teachers and even her government liaison would look at her, as if she was nothing but a walking corpse -which, to be fair, she was- and didn't know it yet. She remembered the petty squabbles, the stupid arguments, and how, in the end, all of it was pointless in the face of the Spell's dispassionate cruelty.
Of a batch of ninety-six Sleepers, only seventeen returned. In everyone's eyes, that was a good year.
Jet should stop reminiscing about the past; it always left her in a depressive mood. She shook her head and started eating.
Just a minute later, she felt, as much as she saw, the world becoming just a fraction darker. Cool trick, that one. It would work great in a horror movie.
She summoned a privacy memory right away and activated it. Sunny narrowed his eyes but did not comment.
"When you asked me to meet you here, I wasn't expecting it to be for lunch," he commented flatly.
"Why can't we do both?" She put on a scandalised expression. "Or is it that a school cafeteria is too lowly for the grand heir of Clan Song?"
Sunny rolled his eyes and sat across from her. "If anything, I prefer it."
"How so?" she asked, cutting into her steak.
Sunny leaned back in his chair and threw an arm behind it. "Well, one of the things I always wanted to do was visit one of those rich people restaurants that would show up in webtoons from time to time. So a few days after I woke up, I visited one incognito along with friends."
"Yeah, it also was a dream of mine," she agreed, biting into the piece of meat. "I'm assuming you weren't impressed either."
"It was crap." Sunny shook his fist in mock fury. "The food was so small it wouldn't feed a baby. And the names? Who the Spell came up with those stupid names? 'Autumn Breeze'? 'Scenification of Joy'? 'Rapture of the Palate?' And those are only the names I can pronounce."
Jet nodded, feeling validated by his complaints. At last, someone who understood her.
She had visited one of those restaurants with Cor once and had spent the whole time wondering if the old man was playing a prank on her. He even had the gall to tell her that it was something that someone with such poor taste couldn't understand.
"And what about the price?"
Sunny's eye twitched.
"That's the most infuriating part. The final bill came up more expensive than outright buying an ascended memory." Sunny shook his head. "Those bastards are robbing people out in the open and getting away with it? That's a microcosm of everything wrong with this world right there."
"I think the rich bastards know it too, but just refuse to admit it because it would make them look stupid."
"Honestly? Same. It's like that one story Teacher Julius told me once. It was about some emperor who got scammed into wearing nothing because the tailor said only smart people could see it, and neither he nor anyone else wanted to admit to being stupid."
Jet nodded thoughtfully. "It would explain a lot if that's what's going on with the world right now."
They stared at each other for a moment. Her icy blue eyes met his pitch-black ones. She felt a smile tug at her lips, and she saw one tugging at his.
A moment later, they both erupted into laughter.
"Thank you for that," she said, wiping away a tear. "I needed a good laugh for a change."
Sunny bowed dramatically. "Thank you, thank you. It's one of my many talents."
A moment after he finished speaking, an identical copy of Sunny arrived, carrying a tray of food of his own. The copy placed it in front of the original and quickly vanished back into his shadow.
"That must be handy," she commented, sipping from a can of soda. "I have to ask, are you the real one or one of the clones?"
"It is handy," he agreed after finishing chewing on a small carrot. "As for your question, all of us are the real one."
"Really?"
"Yup," he answered, popping the 'p'. "What was the phrase Teacher Julius used?" He hummed in thought and then snapped his fingers when it hit him. "Ah, yes. 'We are legion.'"
Jet smiled faintly. "And here I thought the real you was slacking off while the clones did all the work."
"Oh, I am," he answered without pause. "I'm also working a lot at the same time. I have eight bodies, so there is nothing stopping one from lazing around while the others deal with stuff."
She hummed faintly, sipping from her drink. "Stuff for Clan Song?"
"Some of it, yes." He paused briefly to eat a particularly juicy piece of meat. "Though I don't recommend asking for more details."
"Will you have to kill me if I do?" she asked playfully.
"Probably," he replied dryly.
She laughed and did not comment further, choosing to resume eating instead. An action he copied soon after.
They ate in companionable silence, simply enjoying their food and the company of someone who could understand the other in a way that few others could.
By the time they were done, Jet's stomach was pleasantly full.
It still surprised her at times. To think that once upon a time, she thought herself lucky if she only went a few days without eating.
When she looked at Sunny, she saw the same thought crossing through his eyes.
Jet offered him a smile and a nod that he returned with one of his own. A silent "We did it" was exchanged in those two simple gestures.
"That was great," Sunny said, softly patting his stomach.
"I did say that you wouldn't regret it if you were to meet me here."
Jet stretched out, enjoying the sensation of fullness in her stomach, a sensation that any outskirt rat would learn to appreciate if they ever had the chance.
When she noticed Sunny's eyes briefly dropping downward before returning to her eyes, she stretched just a little more before stopping and adopting a coy expression.
"What are you staring at, Sunless?"
She saw many thoughts running through his eyes before he snorted and took a sip from his water. "Your breasts."
Jet briefly considered slapping his face to complete the reenactment of their first meeting. Instead, she laughed so hard her chest shook.
"You always were too honest for your own good," she said, her coy expression melting into a fonder one.
He smirked. "I cannot avoid it. I'm the most honest man in the world, two worlds, even." Sunny spread his arms dramatically. "Ask anyone, and they will confirm it."
"I have the feeling nobody will."
"Not my fault, they cannot see what true honesty looks like."
They laughed once more.
In the silence that ensued, Jet studied him carefully and voiced a theory that had been running through her mind for a while already.
"It's your flaw, isn't it?" she asked softly, and when he flinched, she nodded. "You cannot lie."
Sunny's eyes shone dangerously for a moment, a simple question passing through his eyes. He contemplated it for a second more, but in the end, he relaxed.
Jet did not miss the way the shadows had stirred.
"Guess it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out." He shook his head. "I might have been a little too obvious about it."
"You were." She took a deep breath before talking again. "I am dead."
He quirked an eyebrow, staring oddly at her. "That was rude of you, but not so much that I would kill you for it."
She snorted. "I mean it literally, that's my flaw."
He looked her up and down. "You look very alive."
"And I will keep looking like that as long as I keep killing."
Sunny tilted his head in thought. "So that's how 'Soul Reaper Jet' was born."
"Yeah, cool title, right?"
"It sure beats my own." He shook his head. "You are telling me that among all the titles they could have come up with, 'Black Star' was the best?"
"Nobody said the Government is particularly imaginative."
"Tell me about it. Don't get me started on the propaganda either. Me? Being used as a poster boy for generosity?" He bemoaned. "I'm actually offended."
"You are the poster boy for many labels, too. One of them is a line of swimsuits, if I remember correctly." She tilted her head in apparent thought, despite the fact that she remembered perfectly. "The phrase was... Ah, I remember now. 'As comfortable and light as a shadow."
His mouth hung open in horror. "No."
"Yes."
"No."
She smiled so widely it hurt. "Yes."
He groaned like a dying animal. "I'm going to kill whoever came up with that one."
"You will be very busy then; there are plenty more like that one." She smirked. "In fact, I would even say it's among the least offensive."
He pinched his nose. "Maybe it will all go away if I become a hermit inside the Dream Realm for a few years."
"With your current reputation, they would take it as you selflessly dedicating your life to saving humanity and become even worse."
"I hate the fact that you might be right."
There was a moment of silence, and then they started laughing.
When they finished, Sunny shook his head and took a sip from his glass of water.
"This conversation is great and all, but I have the feeling you didn't ask to meet me here just to share a meal and embarrass me."
"I would like to say that you are wrong, but you aren't." She adopted a serious expression. "The Government intended to recruit you, but now that it's too late for that, we would like to enlist your aid instead."
Sunny hummed quietly and took another sip from his drink. His eyes roamed around the room, flicking from the teachers -trying to listen to the conversation despite the privacy memory- to the rich furniture, and finally back at her.
"You want me to convince Ki Song to lend her aid in the Antarctica campaign," he stated calmly.
Jet nodded, inwardly surprised that the Supreme had already come clean about such a thing.
"Yes, our efforts haven't proven too successful so far." Wake of Ruin was quite furious about the fact. "The Government is ready to offer you credits, shards, memories, and many other rewards depending on how successful you are."
Sunny nodded. "Pay up."
"Sorry, kid, but the Government doesn't believe in paying up front."
"Guessed so, which makes it quite fortunate that Ki Song does intend to make an offer to the Government soon."
Jet smirked. "Pleasure to do business with you then."
"You are getting a bonus too, aren't you?" He asked flatly.
The smirk widened.
"Anything you can share?" She asked and took a sip from her soda.
"She will demand a meeting to hash out the details soon," he answered easily. "Ki Song didn't share many of them, but what I know for sure is that she wants to bring a good chunk of the Antarctic people straight to her domain instead of relocating them to NQSC."
Jet kept her expression composed, but inwardly she was shocked by the revelation. She had been made aware of the existence of the Sovereign's right after becoming a Saint, as well as of how much they valued their secretiveness.
For one of them to move so openly now...
It was a bold action, one that her rival, Anvil of Valor, wouldn't let go uncontested.
"What a mess," she murmured. "If only I could take a sabbatical until all of this is done."
"Tell me about it," he agreed. "You are looking at the man who will lead the Song contingent in Antarctica."
It looked like the surprises didn't stop coming.
"She's putting a lot of trust in you." She tilted her head. "Maybe a little too much."
"Indeed," he agreed once again.
"Guess we will be seeing each other again." She cleared her throat and adopted her most pompous voice. "You are looking at the field marshal of the First Awakened Irregular Company of the Northern Quadrant Corps of the Evacuation Army."
"How long did it take you to memorise that one?"
"You are just jealous that my title is longer."
Sunny snorted. "My paycheck will also be longer."
"Being the heir of a great clan sure has its merits."
"A few, yeah."
"I have been wondering..." Jet looked him straight in the eyes. "Why did you accept joining Song? I might not know you that well, but I know you are not someone who bows his head easily. Or at all."
Sunny shrugged faintly, as if it were a subject of little to no importance. "Time."
"Time?"
"Among many other reasons."
"Time for what?"
He smiled, and the world became that much darker. "Oh, nothing too important. I just need time to perform a little act of defiance."
-------------------------------------------
Kai hummed a song to himself as he inspected the bow and quiver.
"What's on your mind?" Effie asked him.
He turned briefly to stare at the Huntress, who was sprawled over the emerald grass under the shade of the towering pagoda known as the Ivory Tower, staring blankly at the clouds in the sky.
"Nothing specific." He answered, tracing with his fingers the curve of his bow.
"Boring."
"Enjoy the boredom while it lasts." He chastised softly. "Sunny should be arriving in less than a week, and at that point, we won't have the chance to be bored again until we reach Ravenheart."
"Doofus is a disaster magnet, yeah."
Kai rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."
"But you did not deny it."
He didn't need to turn to know she wore an infuriating smile on her face.
Kai kept checking on his equipment silently, looking for any imperfection that might prove fatal in a critical moment. It was stupid of him; both the bow and arrows were memories, but it put his mind at ease to have something to do.
"He didn't stay behind willingly," Effie stated, her voice bereft of any humour.
Kai nodded despite knowing she couldn't see it from her position. He did not need to ask who she was talking about.
"He didn't."
It was a suspicion they had carried for a long time already, but it had only become certainty after his return.
The first words Lady Nephis had told him. The way Sunny stared at her, like he was only a bad word away from exploding. The tense silence that always hung around them if they were left alone even for a moment...
They would have to be blind to miss it.
"What should we do?" He asked in a faint voice, worried that Lady Nephis, even at the other edge of the island, could hear.
Effie did not reply immediately, which was quite surprising coming from her, so he turned around.
The woman sighed and sat up, letting her back rest against the white stone.
"What we agreed." She said after a moment. "We will give them another month to come clean on their own."
Kai exhaled, regretting the fact that it had come to this. "And if not..."
Effie's face was set in stone. "We will force the issue."
-------------------------------------------
Rain took a deep breath, the air carrying the fresh scent of morning dew and grass to her nose.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was bright, the air still faintly warm despite winter's approach. Any other day, Rain might have lain down on the grass and started counting clouds. In fact, Serpent was doing something very similar, the shadow creature having dozed off under the sun.
This time, she didn't. Not when Sunny had offered to train her.
He was currently in front of her. With his casual clothes, easy smile, and the way he stood there, seemingly without any worry in the world, one might have thought him about to go out for a night of fun and revelry instead of about to start training.
The privileges of the powerful, she assumed. It wasn't like he couldn't summon a weapon and armor within a heartbeat.
She focused her full attention on him the moment he opened his mouth, curious about what he was about to say.
"What is the essence of combat?"
Rain looked at her big brother with an unimpressed expression. "You are copying big sis."
Sunny sputtered indignantly but, quite noticeably, did not deny it.
"It's alright." She patted his back softly. "I will pretend I didn't hear that before, just for you."
Sunny glowered. "This is your revenge, isn't it?"
"Of course not!" she denied immediately.
Of course it was.
Sunny sighed dramatically. "Just answer the damn question."
"When big sis asked me the first time, I said survival."
She remembered it with perfect clarity, especially the way Nephis' eyes had grown distant for a moment. It was one of the most overt shows of emotion she had seen from her stoic big sister. It was only later that she found out that it had been Sunny's answer, too.
"Did she convince you that it is murder?" he asked calmly.
"She did say it, but it doesn't really fit me." Rain bashfully scratched the back of her head. "Especially now, with my flaw and all."
"Yours is a heavy one," he agreed, and then patted her head softly. "But I don't hate it. There are more than enough killers in the world already. Maybe you can be among those who build instead of destroy."
"Funny, Effie said the same to me." She giggled upon seeing his offended face, as if it were an insult to compare the two. "It's true!"
"Forget what I just said. Find a way to kill things anyway."
Rain stared at his serious expression long enough to see it crack into laughter, a sound she echoed right after.
"Anyway," he said after a moment, trying and failing to hide his smirk, "you shouldn't take Neph's answer as the universal truth."
She tilted her head. "Should I take yours instead?"
Even before she finished speaking, he was already shaking his head.
"No. In fact, I was going to say the contrary."
Sunny tugged at the collar of his shirt, revealing the pale skin underneath and a faint, almost invisible scar marring it. His scars kept growing smaller, but some of them had been so harrowing they still left a mark even now. According to him, at one point, there was hardly any skin free of them.
"I got this one trying to go for the kill against a Fallen Beast instead of being more cautious." He lifted his left fist next, showcasing a pale line crisscrossing along his knuckles. "This one is from when I strangled an Awakened Tyrant with its own intestines. The bastard clamped down on my fist and ripped a finger right off." He smirked victoriously. "Joke's on him. I recovered the finger, but he's still dead."
Rain smiled uncomfortably, reminded, not for the first time, that Sunny could be more than a little vindictive.
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you should find your own essence of combat instead of following someone else's. I found my own in control. In shaping the battlefield to offer me as many advantages as it gives disadvantages to my enemy." He waved his arm, and all across the garden, the shadows stirred, morphing into structures that completely changed the landscape in less than a second. "In planning meticulously before ever engaging in battle. And in the cases where battle finds me first?" He closed his fist, and the shadows transformed into hundreds of weapons. "I shall take control back by force."
She nodded, idly wondering if he had been rehearsing the speech. It looked far too deliberate to be something he had come up with on the spot.
"How can I start?"
Sunny hummed quietly and shaped a bow out of the shadows. "Your choice of weapon comes first. You prefer bows, right?"
"Yes." She smiled fondly, remembering the many times Kai had taught her on the subject. "Big sister insisted on making me at least proficient with melee weapons in case the fight reaches close quarters, but I prefer bows."
He quirked an eyebrow, staring at her flatly. "Proficient? I have seen people less skilled with their main weapon than you are with your secondary."
Rain preened happily, not even bothering to pretend humility. She liked being praised, and it was even better when it was her older brother doing it.
"You aren't the only one in the family with talent," she said proudly.
"Cheeky brat."
She lifted her chin imperiously. "That's Lady Cheeky Brat for you. I'm the little sister of the current heirs of Clan Song, after all. "
"Wow..." Sunny drawled dryly. "It didn't take you long at all to start flaunting it."
"My big brother is awesome. Why would I hide it?"
He rolled his eyes. "I don't know? Maybe because of the danger it puts you in?"
"Like I haven't seen enough of it in my first—"
Rain froze right at that moment, as terrible images started flashing through her mind.
Sunny was by her side immediately, catching her when she looked like she was about to topple to the ground.
"Rain..."
"I'm alright," she interrupted before he could voice his worry.
He meant well, Rain knew that perfectly. He was concerned about her. And how couldn't he be? What with the way she reacted whenever she remembered the ordeal the Spell had put her through. But she did not want to hear it.
She had already heard more than enough comforting words from the others, and she was sick and tired of being on the receiving end of their pity time and time again. Sunny stared at her somberly but did not push.
Instead of saying anything, he chose to envelop her in a warm, tight hug that made tears prickle at her eyes.
Even in the comfort of her older brother's arms, Rain couldn't forget it.
Not when it was seared into her mind.
A river in which past, present, and future existed at the same time, flowing in every direction as far as she could see.
A floating city, inhabited by adorers of the Daemon of Fate.
A face marred with more scars than there were clouds in the sky.
A bloodstained smile, shining under the light of seven suns.
Eyes as black as the abyss of deep waters, staring at her with a malignant mix of love and madness.
"Tell him, Rain. When the time is right, you must tell him. Tell him that all dreams must end."