Shadow Slave : A Moment of Weakness Chapter 39 39: The longest dream (2)

A bell chid softly as they entered the little restaurant.

"So this is where you usually eat?" she asked, looking around the place.

It was a small, cozy restaurant, modest in its appearance and quietly inviting. Warm light spilled from its lamps, softening the worn wooden tables and the neatly arranged chairs that seed to have been placed with care. The walls were painted a soft green, decorated sparingly, carrying the marks of ti that made the place seem lived in.

Sunny shrugged, already moving to his usual table. "Yes, I usually co here with my friends."

"So I'm your friend already" she comnted lightly. "My, my, I'm rising quickly in your esteem." The woman smiled, looking pleased, as if it were an achievent.

He rolled his eyes, not dignifying the comnt with an answer.

The old waiter arrived shortly after they took a seat and took their order before leaving as fast as he had arrived. Sunny did not miss the wink the old man threw him upon seeing his company. For spell's sake.

anwhile, she was looking around the room, taking in the details. Besides themselves, there was a family inside the restaurant, the children eagerly digging into the food while the parents seed to be praying to the Lady before starting themselves.

"I will never get used to that," she whispered.

Sunny quirked an eyebrow. "What do you an?"

She whipped around, eyes wide open in surprise. He was seated right in front of her, and the table was nowhere near wide enough for them to miss what each other was saying, even when whispered. Had she forgotten he was there or what?

A mont later, she laughed awkwardly, looking aside. "Nothing, I was just speaking aloud so nonsense."

The eyebrow climbed higher, the action alone expressing just how unconvincing she was. "You must be the worst liar I have ever t."

For a second, the image of another terrible liar flashed through his mind. From the corner of his eye, almost as if on cue, he spotted silver hair once more. This ti he did not whip around; in fact, he did not even react, nor make any attempt to take a better look.

"I'm not lying!" The protest might have been more convincing if she wasn't still looking aside.

Sunny snorted and shook his head. He would let it pass. He had secrets of his own, and he did not appreciate it when others tried to barge in on them either.

He chuckled when she tried once more to convince him of the contrary, paying her attention with half a mind, while the other half was focused on the silver hair still hanging at the corner of his eye. It had not disappeared yet, despite almost a minute having already passed.

In every other instance, it did the mont he acknowledged it.

A slight narrowing of his eyes was the only outward sign he made, and yet it was enough. The hair disappeared, and with it, whoever it was that was haunting him.

Just what was going on? Was there a nightmare creature haunting him? Was he under attack by a mind hex?

"What's on your mind?"

Sunny shrugged, feigning nonchalance, and stared at her intently, carefully taking in her appearance. "Just how beautiful you are."

It began slowly at first. Her cheeks developed a rosy tone, one that spread quickly until her face resembled a tomato. Whatever that was.

"That's not fair!" she complained, pouting adorably, her face still bright red.

"You have been teasing all day. Fair's fair." There was no regret in his voice.

She was saved from further embarrassnt by the arrival of their order. The old man settled a plate in front of each of them and then left. The cheeky old fart winked again.

He was never going to live this down if Effie found out.

Almost by reflex, he started praying before eating, but stopped when he realized what he was doing.

"Is there any problem?" She did not fail to notice it. Damnation.

Sunny shrugged. "No, I'm simply not a fan of the divine."

Huh? Since when? He wasn't much of a believer, but he wasn't against the Gods, nor the Lady either. A spike of wrongness rose but was so weak he didn't have ti to acknowledge it before it vanished.

She tilted her head, eyes staring straight into his. "Why?"

A bitter chuckle escaped him before he could stamp it down, a chuckle that developed into a full-blown laugh.

Ignoring the concerned stare she sent him, Sunny smiled brightly. "Why would I pray to any god? If there is any up there, they don't care about ."

A long second of silence followed his proclamation. It stretched between them, tension rising as he awaited her reaction. She did not make him wait long.

"I agree," was her surprising answer.

"Why?" he asked in return.

She looked away, mind seemingly lost in thought. A humorless chuckle escaped her too.

"Because they abandoned us." Her voice was pure ice. "In our greatest mont of need, after the Twins fell, not a single one of them deed us worthy of an answer. Not the Storm Goddess, nor any of the others. Not even my fath—"

She stopped talking and clenched her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white. Maybe it was just his imagination, but her shadow seed to elongate for a second.

He narrowed his eyes, leaving for later the question of what she had almost said.

"What about the Lady, then?" he asked, genuinely curious.

There were many things that could be said about the Lady. He had even heard so call her a slob who had only given their current position to Queen Erelia and King Vorthal so that she wouldn't have to deal personally with every governance matter of the realm.

But what no one could claim was that she was an absent god for Aleras, the city and the realm both.

She smiled sadly, eyes cast down. "She's the worst of them all."

The words hung between them, fragile as glass.

Sunny blinked. Of all the answers he had expected, that one wasn't what he had expected. "That's… not a common opinion," he said carefully. "People owe her everything. The walls, their safety, the peace after—"

"After the Weeping," she cut in softly.

Her fingers traced idle patterns on the table, following grooves worn smooth by countless hands. When she spoke again, her voice was quieter, tinged with sothing old and tired.

"They say she rose when the realm needed her most. That she chose divinity out of duty." A humorless smile tugged at her lips. "They never bothered to ask if she wanted it to begin with."

Sunny frowned. The faint sense of wrongness returning. "You make it sound like she didn't."

"She did and didn't," the woman replied. Too fast.

She leaned back, eyes drifting toward the praying family. The parents had finished and were now helping their youngest cut his food. For a mont, she almost seed resentful.

"She never wanted to be a goddess," the woman resud. "Never wanted temples or prayers or to be carved into stone and sung to by people who never knew her na. She wanted to walk these very sa streets like any other person. To grow old. To live a peaceful life and then be t by the embrace of shadows."

Sunny tilted his head, studying her in detail. The crease of her brows, the barely perceptible tremor in her hands. The quiet mourning in her eyes.

"You really don't like her," he said.

"I resent her," the woman admitted. "For staying."

Sunny stilled.

"Guess I'll stay."

"Guess I'll have to stay too."

Wrongness surged once more, heralding the arrival of a terrible headache that settled in the back of his skull and pounded rcilessly.

"Staying?" he heard himself asking. From the corner of his eye, he spotted silver hair once more.

"When Aleras fell," she whispered, "when the sky cracked and the realm cried, she stayed. Not because she wanted to rule. Not because she wanted worship." Her fists clenched once more. "But because there was no one else."

Emotions flickered through her eyes. Regret, anger, grief.

"Soone had to keep Vaelkar bound," she whispered. "Soone had to remain, to take care of the lost and broken, of those who had lost everything. To protect this realm against the tides of darkness."

Sunny's stomach twisted, though he couldn't say why. The headache grew worse.

"They called it noble," she continued, bitterness painting every word. "They still do. They call her kind, rciful, holy. But they never ask if she wanted eternity. They never ask what it ans to be trapped by duty while the world moves on and thanks you for your chains. That's why I hate her, because even now, she's too soft to let go and leave."

She smiled. It was faint, fragile, barely holding itself together.

Sunny swallowed. "You sound like you know her."

For a mont, she didn't answer. Then she laughed. There was no joy on it.

"Do you know why they call her the Lady of Sorrows?" she asked in lieu of answering.

He searched his mory but found no answer. That's how everyone called her, and he had never cared enough to find out more. "I have no idea."

Her smile cracked. "Her domain is sleep. Dreams, to be precise. Every soul that closes its eyes within Aleras passes through her reach, even if they don't know it. Especially if they don't. When people are in pain -true pain, the kind that follows you into sleep- she takes it from them. Nightmares, grief, mories that refuse to fade. She weaves gentler dreams in their place. Gives them rest when the waking world is too cruel to offer any."

Sunny's hold on his cup tightened. He could already tell where this was going.

"Every fear. Every regret. Every scream that claws its way into a sleeper's mind." Her fingers dug into the wood of the table. "She lives them. All of them. One by one. She carries their pain so they don't have to wake with it."

He paled. "That sounds unbearable."

Her eyes t his once more, and she smiled. "It is," she agreed. "That's why they call her the Lady of Sorrows. Because she takes the pain of others and takes it upon herself."

Before he even realized it, his hand had moved, softly holding hers. It was trembling.

She did not et his eyes this ti. "But do you know what was the worst part?"

"I don't."

"The loneliness," she admitted. "To everyone else, she was a leader, a commander, a symbol, a goddess." She finished resentfully. "Sothing to revere, but not to approach."

Her grip grew tight, holding onto his hand with desperation.

"But you…" Her eyes t his and the wrongness spiked. "I'm not such a thing to you, am I?"

Sunny swallowed. She wasn't even trying to hide who she was anymore. And her grip… her grip was like an iron vice. "I don't," he answered in the end.

She smiled gently. "For once, I want to be selfish. For once, I want to have sothing for myself."

I don't even know who you are! he thought to say.

This is the first ti we et. He was going to say.

Let go of my hand. He wished to say.

I'm not sothing to be owned! He almost scread.

These, and many more thoughts, ran through his mind.

However, just as he was about to voice them, mories assaulted his mind.

In one set, he was a humble shopkeeper, and the woman before him was his favorite client—one with whom he had developed a close bond over ti.

In the other set, she was his friend, his best friend. They had been together for as long as he could rember. Through every victory. Failure. Laughter. Quiet monts filled with aning.

The headache grew worse, the agony so strong his mouth opened in a silent scream.

Silver tendrils revealed themselves, fraying away as he looked at them. A canvas appeared before his eyes, tearing itself apart, and just as it was about to co undone-

Her grip softened, a beautiful smile painted on her face. "You won't leave , will you?"

A silver flash consud his vision.

Sunny blinked and found that they were still holding hands. Red colored his cheeks. A faint sense of wrongness tugged at his mind, but he ignored it with practiced ease.

Prodded by his flaw, he answered, "Of course not."

Why would he leave his best friend? Soone for whom he cared more than anyone else? Honestly, she could be so dramatic at tis.

Her eyes shone with glee.

-------------------------------------------

Sunny stopped before the museum of Aleras.

It was a majestic monunt to the glory of the city, built completely of white marble, with tall arches and spiraling towers that made it look like sothing out of this world. Apparently, the original had been destroyed, and the current one was rebuilt with painstaking precision, seeking to replicate it perfectly.

Sunny could almost hear Teacher Julius's voice as clearly as if the man were standing beside him, gesturing wildly as he explained the provenance of so ancient blade or cracked tablet. Those school trips had felt endless at the ti, but now the mories sat warmly in his chest, soft and familiar.

"Sunny!"

The reason he was there, trying to think of anything but the day before him, arrived.

She was wearing another dress, a pale yellow this ti. She had foregone the use of a wig, but her eyes were a different color. And she was breathtaking.

This is so unfair, he lanted internally.

Standing next to her, he felt painfully ordinary. His clothes were fine, his appearance… acceptable. Still, it felt like placing a sketch beside a finished painting. He tried to console himself with the thought that ascension was close now. Surely that would improve his looks at least a little.

"I was waiting for you," she said, stopping by his side.

She was close enough that he caught her perfu. It was soft, comforting, sothing floral he couldn't na. It hit him all at once, and his brain stalled for half a second longer than it should have.

Sunny awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I hope I didn't make you wait long."

She shook her head, smiling, and for a fleeting mont he wondered if the sun -it was the rare single day of the month in which there was sunlight- had always been this bright.

"You didn't. Besides…" She leaned in just slightly, eyes dancing. "I would wait for you no matter how long it takes."

Heat rushed to his face, and he looked away before she could see just how badly it was.

There was a strange sense of pressure behind his eyes then, like a headache that had vanished before he could even register it. It slipped away almost imdiately, leaving only a vague discomfort behind.

For a second, he could have sworn he saw sothing silvery from the corner of his eye. It was gone before he had ti to be sure.

"Stop saying such embarrassing things," he muttered, already moving toward the entrance, "and let's go."

A soft giggle followed him, light and pleased, and he could feel her presence just behind his shoulder as she caught up. The sensation settled sothing in him, smoothing over the earlier unease as if it had never been there at all.

He had the suspicion that the outing -which was totally not a date- was going to be a long one.

Not that he minded. Not at all.

-------------------------------------------

"Soooo, what has you smiling like that?" Effie's voice dragged him out of his reverie.

Sunny turned to face her, a tendril of shadow still dancing on the palm of his hand. He had ascended just the day before, and he was hard at work practicing his new ability.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he answered honestly.

A dangerous smile ford on her face. "Oh? So you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?" Irritation was starting to creep into his voice.

"You seem quite happy," Kai inford him. The handso archer was checking his bow, making sure it was in good condition for the battle about to unfold.

Sunny blinked and noticed that he was, indeed, smiling. He stopped imdiately, but the damage was already done.

Effie's eyes twinkled, and her grin widened. "So, who's the lucky girl?" She wiggled her eyebrows. "Or is it a he?"

Sunny facepald. Hard. "There is nothing like what you are implying going on."

"I saw you the other day with a woman. You seed quite animated while speaking with her."

Sunny turned toward the other man, feeling more betrayed than he ever had. A pang of wrongness rose, but he crushed it with practiced ease.

"You too, Kai?"

The archer chuckled nervously, pointedly looking aside. "I'm just saying what I saw," he tried to deflect.

Sunny let out a slow breath through his nose, the shadows on his palm dissolving into nothing as his concentration slipped. "You saw walking with a woman," he said. "That doesn't an anything."

Effie humd thoughtfully, circling him like a predator preparing to pounce on her prey. "Walking, you say? Standing close. Talking. Smiling." She winked at him, looking delighted. "Our little shadow grows so fast!"

"It was a coincidence," Sunny insisted. "I was on my way sowhere and ran into her. That's all."

Kai adjusted the strap of his quiver, movents calm and thodical. "You don't usually linger during coincidences," he said mildly.

Sunny shot him a glare. "Since when are you keeping track of my habits?"

Kai paused, then shrugged. "Since you started acting differently."

That made sothing twist in Sunny's chest. Was he?

"I'm not acting differently," he said. "I just ascended. I'm adjusting."

Effie leaned closer, peering at him with exaggerated scrutiny. "Is that what we're calling it now?"

"Effie!"

"What?" she asked innocently. "I'm happy for you. Truly. It's been a while since I've seen you look so… happy."

Sunny scoffed. "You're imagining things. We're only friends."

"Are we?" She tilted her head. "Because you've been humming. And you haven't tried to ss with Kai once today."

Kai blinked. "That is unusual."

Sunny opened his mouth to argue, then stopped.

A mory brushed past his mind: a laugh, soft and warm; eyes that looked at him like he mattered; a presence that made the world feel less suffocating.

The image slipped away before he could grasp it, leaving behind that sa faint sense of wrongness. He frowned, shaking his head in an attempt to banish the strange sensation.

"It's not what you think it is," he said finally. "She is-" He hesitated, jaw tightening. "She's just a friend. No more, no less. She can certainly do better than ."

Effie didn't tease him this ti. She just watched him, her expression gentler than before.

He blinked, and her strong arms were enveloping him. A second passed, and another set of arms joined hers.

"You don't sound very convinced," Kai whispered.

Sunny looked away, desperately trying to avoid their gazes. He looked toward the horizon, where the battlefield waited, where things were more simple. Steel, shadows, kill or be killed. He could understand that.

Feelings were another matter entirely.

"Drop it," he asked quietly.

They did.

And yet, during the rest of the day, he kept thinking of dark hair and eyes, of teasing smiles, of a warm hand holding his own.

He only spotted silver hair once, and it vanished so quickly he wasn't even sure if it was real or just his imagination.

-------------------------------------------

He opened the door with the practiced ease of soone who had done it a thousand tis before.

Sunny smiled, feeling the warmth of his ho starting to envelop him. A content sigh escaped him as he stepped inside, closely followed by the Lady.

"It feels welcoming," she comnted.

His parents ca out of the kitchen, both wearing aprons and big smiles on their faces.

"We try," his father agreed.

His mother was the first to truly look at the woman standing just behind him. Her smile froze for half a heartbeat.

Then it widened.

"Oh, Sunny." He could feel dread pool in his stomach. "You didn't tell us you were bringing such a pretty friend," his mother continued, already stepping closer, eyes bright and curious.

The Lady inclined her head politely. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Nonsense," his father said warmly. "Anyone Sunny brings ho is welco here."

Sunny opened his mouth. "I-"

His mother gently elbowed his father aside without ever taking her eyes off the Lady. "Please, co inside." She gestured inward, then paused, head tilting. "What should we call you, dear?"

The Lady blinked and opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could answer, his mother smiled even more brightly. "Actually," she said, as if struck by sudden inspiration, "why don't you call Mother?"

Sunny's soul left his body.

"M-Mother?" he stuttered.

The Lady's eyes widened, then shone brighter than ever. Sothing warm and pleased blood across her face, like she'd just been offered the greatest treasure in the world.

"I would be honored," she said happily. "Mother."

Sunny made a strangled sound sowhere between a cough and a plea for rcy.

His mother bead, utterly delighted. "I like her already."

Father chuckled, clearly enjoying Sunny's visible suffering. "You're turning red, son."

"I am not-" Sunny cut himself off, clamping a hand over his face. He could feel the heat all the way to the tips of his ears. "She doesn't have to... I an... we are not...!"

The Lady leaned slightly toward him, her voice gentle and teasing. "Is sothing wrong, Sunny?"

He refused to look at her. If he did, he was fairly certain he would combust. "No…"

rcifully, before his mother could say sothing even worse, a loud crash echoed from the kitchen. Sothing tallic clattered to the floor, followed by a startled yelp.

Sunny groaned. "Rain."

Right on cue, his little sister burst out of the kitchen, arms full, holding tightly onto a stack of bowls, piled precariously one atop another.

"I was helping!" Rain announced cheerfully, stepping over a spilled ladle without noticing it. "And then the spoon attacked ."

"The spoon did not attack you," Sunny said dryly, already moving toward the kitchen to see the ss for himself.

He t Saint just as he was about to enter, who t his gaze with a neutral expression, then turned toward the others.

It only took her a glance to take in the scene: Sunny, still visibly flustered. The Lady, happy. Their mother, far too pleased.

Her gaze lingered on the Lady for a fraction of a second longer. She did not seem impressed.

She said nothing, but stepped closer to Sunny.

Sunny shifted under her stare. "It's not what it looks like."

Saint's expression did not change.

Rain finally noticed the Lady and gasped. "You're really pretty!"

"Rain!" Sunny could feel his ears burning.

"What? I'm just saying!" She grinned, then leaned closer to the Lady, eyes sparkling. "Are you Sunny's girlfriend?"

He choked on air.

The Lady laughed softly. "We're friends." Then she winked. "For now."

Sunny's mother clapped her hands together. "Alright, alright. Dinner will be ready soon. Rain, put those down before you drop them again."

"I didn't drop them," Rain said defensively, setting the bowls on the table. "Gravity just got the better of ."

Saint stepped forward and quietly fixed the stack without a word, her eyes never leaving Sunny's friend.

The night had barely started, and he was already exhausted.

His mother turned back to the Lady, her smile gentle and reassuring. "Don't mind Saint. She has always been too protective of our little Sun."

Saint did not deny it.

"She'll warm up eventually," his mother added lightly. "You have nothing to worry about."

The Lady t Saint's gaze calmly, unflinching. Then she smiled, just a little. "I understand."

Saint held her stare for a long mont, then turned and went back into the kitchen, followed by his father.

His mother clasped the Lady's hands again. "Now then, dear, you were about to tell us your na."

A call from the kitchen interrupted her before she could answer, and they all moved to help.

-------------------------------------------

"Have you heard?" she asked softly.

Sunny opened his eyes, abandoning his ditation to look at her instead. He felt close to transcending, but he had all the ti in the world to do so.

They were currently in the tower, more specifically, her room. Though calling it a room was quite the euphemism; his entire ho was smaller than her bathroom. He tried very hard to ignore the fact that they were alone, and that nobody would hear if anything happened.

Not like he wanted anything to happen!

Focusing back on her question, he shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"We're going to make a small addition to the roof."

"I didn't know that," he admitted easily, then tilted his head. "What for?"

She pointed at one of the lamps, which shone brightly. "To install a beacon. The nights keep growing darker, and it's becoming harder and harder to find the city, so the roof will be reford to turn it into a lighthouse of sorts."

Pain stabbed through his mind without warning, sharp and sudden, carrying with it the faintest echo of sothing old and forgotten.

"That sounds like a good idea," he heard himself say absentmindedly.

A voice stirred in his mind, dragging a mory along with it. A voice he hadn't heard in a long ti.

"I guess. But really, fighting that Terror wasn't the hardest part. Waking up trapped in a repulsive cocoon wasn't the hardest part. Even… even burning alive wasn't the hardest part."

"The hardest part was walking up the steps to the top of the lighthouse. Not because of what waited for in the future, but because of what I was leaving in the past."

"…"

"…"

"…!"

A hand shook him roughly, yanking him out of his spiraling thoughts.

"Sunny, are you alright?!"

He blinked to find her worried face right in front of his. He was so shaken he didn't even acknowledge how close they were.

"Survive."

Sunny swallowed, suddenly finding his throat very dry. "Yes… I think so."

She did not seem convinced, still staring at him with concern.

"Survive."

"Have you said anything?" he asked, trying and failing to understand the whisper echoing in his mind.

She shook her head, arms gently enveloping him in a tight embrace.

"The strange mories again?" There was sothing odd in her voice, almost angry.

"I think so." The agreent did not feel right.

Her fingers ran through his hair soothingly. "It's okay. I'm here."

That was right. She was. He always felt better in her presence. The strange voices muted, the flashes of fake mories dulled, and even the ever-present feeling of wrongness beca more and more sparse.

"I don't know what I would do without you," he whispered, returning the embrace at last.

"Survive." The sa voice echoed one more ti before finally going silent.

Her arms grew tighter, almost possessive.

"You will never have to find out."

-------------------------------------------

"…and that's how I killed that Cursed Beast," she finished her tale, nodding proudly at herself.

Sunny chuckled, finding the story rather amusing. Idly, he wondered why the idea of dropping a mountain on a hapless nightmare creature felt so familiar.

"Aaaanyway, let's stop talking about ," she said, dragging his complete attention back to her.

He could always solve the mystery later. She was right in front of him, here and now, and he didn't care enough about it to sideline her.

Sunny tilted his head, trying and failing to hide the amusent he felt. "What do you want to talk about instead?"

She put a finger beneath her chin, her brows scrunching in concentration. Cute.

"You. Or more specifically…" Her eyes flicked up to et his, pools of darkness eting his own with playfulness. "Your love life."

What was it with this woman and her endless questions? And about such an embarrassing topic too!

"Bold of you to assu I have one," the rebuttal ca out easily.

She looked at him knowingly, a smirk playing on her lips. "Liar."

He smirked. "A liar? ? I'll have you know that I am the most honest man in the world." He stopped, then added, almost reflexively, "Two worlds, even."

Which other world was that…?

She smirked too. "Did you ever fall in love, then?"

No.

"Yes."

What?

Sunny had never done such a thing.

The closest he'd co to falling in love -if you could even call it that- was a childhood crush on Effie, and that crush had died a cruel, sudden death the mont she opened her mouth. She was still teasing him about it, too.

Worst mistake of his life, right there.

She leaned forward, staring intently at him. "How did it go?"

I don't even know what I'm talking about, he wanted to say.

What ca out instead was, "Terribly. Both of them."

Her hand caught his in a firm yet gentle grip. Sunny found it far more comforting than it should have been.

"I'm sorry for bringing back bad mories." The apology sounded sincere, but Sunny couldn't shake the feeling that there was an ulterior motive behind the seemingly innocent question.

Sunny shrugged in feigned nonchalance, while internally he was reeling. Where had that answer co from? His flaw had allowed him to say it, so it must have been the truth, or at least, it was for him.

A faint, flickering fla of wrongness arose in his chest, and for a brief mont he saw a single silver tendril dancing in the air, coming straight from the woman in front of him. He blinked, and it was gone.

"Hey, Sunny…" she started, but stopped before voicing her question, her voice suddenly turning bashful.

He quirked an eyebrow. She was never shy about asking questions. "What is it?"

She looked at him intently before continuing. "Are you happy?"

It wasn't the question he expected. Not at all.

He tilted his head, taking his ti to consider it.

Was he happy?

He had a family he loved with all his heart, and who loved him in return.

He had friends, great friends. The kind who would always have his back against the world, and whose backs he would have in turn.

He was growing stronger by the day. In another week or two, he would beco a Saint. And if his ambitious friend was anything to go by -becoming a divine? They called him greedy- he didn't think he was going to stop there either.

His life wasn't completely peaceful. He still had a duty to defend the city. But he could admit easily that he didn't mind.

Sunny looked at his friend -really looked- and finally realized sothing he'd been trying to ignore for a long ti.

A smile took shape on his face, bright and unguarded. In her presence, he felt safe enough to let his guard drop.

"Yes, I am happy."

She smiled too, then leaned forward, so close he could feel her breath on his face.

"Do you love ?"

The question hit him with the weight of a mountain. And yet, he knew his answer instantly.

"No," he admitted, then hurriedly added when he saw her downcast expression. "I don't think I do yet, but… I think I'm starting to."

She looked at him intently, a sad smile appearing on her face. She nodded faintly and drew away.

"I love you," she admitted. Then her smile morphed into a determined one. "Just like you will soon enough."

Sunny chuckled, finding the answer endearing beyond words. "I'm looking forward to it."