Half a day later of their grueling journey across the land and sky, the wind became a constant, freezing presence that gnawed at their bones. Below them was nothing but the dark, hungry abyss of the Sky Below.
Sunny stood at the edge of the island they had just reached. His boots were firmly planted on the uneven ground as he stared across the impossibly wide gulf of empty space separating them from their actual destination.
Shipwreck Island.
Hanging directly from the underside of the island was the colossal body of an iron giant. It was an ancient, terrifying monument. The giant was suspended over the abyss, its massive arm entangled tightly in an impossibly huge chain that anchored it to the bottom of the floating landmass. It looked like a dead god strung up as a warning to the rest of the world. One of its hands was completely missing, leaving a sheared stump of rusted metal and dark stone.
'Look at the size of that thing,' Sunny thought, his eyes tracking the colossal links of the chain. 'If that chain snaps, the whole island might just tilt and dump everything into the void. And I have to jump onto it. I really have the worst luck in two different worlds.'
He glanced to his side. Cielle was standing near the edge of the cliff. The cold wind whipped her orange hair around her face. Her white wings were folded tightly against her back to keep the freezing air out. Her green eyes did not show any fear.
"It is very big," Cielle said.
Sunny sighed. "Yes. It is big. And very heavy. We have to wait for it to fall before we can even try to cross this gap."
She nodded slowly. Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet trembled.
It started as a small vibration in the stone, but within seconds it turned into a deep, violent shudder. Across the wide gulf, the colossal chain entangled around the giant's arm began to move. Shipwreck Island was entering its descent phase.
Then came the noise.
The sound of thousands of tons of ancient iron grinding against stone tore through the air. It was a deafening, agonizing screech that drowned out the howling wind. It felt like the sound was trying to split Sunny's skull open. He winced and gritted his teeth, waiting for the massive landmass to settle into its downward path.
A sharp gasp caught his attention. Sunny turned his head and saw Cielle stumble backward.
Her hands flew to the sides of her head, pressing hard against her ears. Her eyes were squeezed shut in sudden, violent pain. While Sunny just found the noise incredibly loud and annoying, Cielle's case was different. The grinding screech of the colossal chain was probably echoing in her brain like a blade tearing through her mind. She dropped to her knees on the hard stone, her wings flaring out in a chaotic, jerky motion as she tried to curl into a tight ball.
Sunny closed the distance between them in two fast strides and dropped to his knees right in front of her. He pulled her forward by the shoulders and pressed her face, burying her head against his chest. Then he clamped his own hands over hers, pressing down hard over her ears. He wrapped his cloak around her as best as he could to muffle the sound further.
Cielle shuddered violently. She slumped completely against him, her weight resting entirely on his chest. Her wings wrapped around his back in an involuntary reflex, which made Sunny grimace.
This was a major reason Cielle didn't roam much in the chained isles, her flaw was too punishing in this matter. The dream realm was filled with all sorts of weird environments and sensations, he really wondered the extent of her flaw, did it increase her pain? Does it affect her mind?
They stayed like that on the edge of the cliff. Sunny kept his body angled to block the freezing wind, shielding her as much as he could. He could feel her heart hammering rapidly against his ribs. The violent rattling of the chains went on and on, echoing across the abyss. Eventually, after what felt like hours, the agonizing screech smoothed out. It turned into a low, continuous rumble as the island finally settled into a steady descent.
Sunny slowly loosened his grip on her hands. The deafening noise was gone, replaced by the deep hum of falling stone and the rushing wind.
He looked down. "It is going to take half a day for it to drop far enough for us to make the jump," he said quietly.
Cielle slowly pulled her face away from his chest. Her green eyes were slightly watery, but her expression was already smoothing back out into its usual blank state. She let out a small breath.
"Okay," she whispered.
Sunny stood up and offered her his hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet. "We need to find a place to camp. Standing out here in the wind for twelve hours is a terrible idea."
They walked away from the edge, navigating through the cluster of dark boulders until they found a shallow hollow carved into the side of a massive rock formation. It was out of the wind and out of sight from the sky above. Sunny sat down on the dusty stone floor. He sent gloomy and happy to scout the immediate perimeter, while he reached into his pack and pulled out two ration bars and a flask of warm water. He tossed a bar to Cielle and handed her the flask. She took them without a word.
The silence between them was heavy, but it was not the uncomfortable kind. It was the kind of silence Sunny had grown used to over the past week.
He took a bite of his ration bar. It tasted like cardboard and dust. He chewed slowly, enjoying watching Cielle nibble on her own food.
"You know," Sunny started, breaking the quiet. "When I was in the outskirts, food was bad. But the food in the Dream Realm is somehow worse. I really miss the eggs right now."
Cielle swallowed her bite of the ration bar and looked at him. "The eggs were bad. You said they were bad."
"They were bad," Sunny agreed. "But they were warm. And they did not taste like dirt. Everything here tastes like dirt."
Cielle looked down at her ration bar, examining it as if searching for the dirt he mentioned. "It just tastes like nothing to me. It is just food."
"You need to raise your standards," Sunny said with a dry chuckle. "When we get back , I am going to cook up a feast, gluttony would become a virtue in front of it! We can also get some of those dumplings Jet brought to my room that one time. You would probably like those."
Cielle tilted her head slightly. "You want to eat a feast with me when we go back?"
"Well, yes," Sunny said, feeling a sudden, strange awkwardness. "We eat together all the time anyway…. It would be better than charcoal"
"Medium grilled charcoal" She interjected
"The best charcoal" Sunny smoothly saved himself.
They fell back into a comfortable rhythm. The deep rumble of the falling island echoed through the rock behind them, but it was low enough that it did not bother Cielle anymore. Sunny leaned his head back against the cold stone, closing his eyes for a moment. He thought about her words. He thought about how simple she made everything sound.
His mind wandered back to the moments they had shared over the past few months. The movie nights. The kiss. The sex..
He opened his eyes and looked at her again. She was staring out at the small patch of gray sky visible from their cave, her eyes reflecting the dull light.
"Hey," Sunny said, his voice a bit hesitant.
Cielle looked at him. "Yes?"
Sunny shifted uncomfortably on the hard stone. The question had been bothering him for days. He tried to push it down, telling himself it was none of his business, but his brain refused to let it go.
"Cielle," Sunny started, his voice dropping slightly. "Have you ever... you know. With someone else?"
Cielle stared at him. Her expression did not change, but her eyes narrowed just a fraction in confusion. "Done what?"
Sunny felt his face grow hot. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling as if a guillotine had been placed above him. "Kissed someone? Or asked them... things. Before me. Did you ever do that with someone at the Academy?"
Cielle paused. She looked at him for a long moment. Her brow furrowed, and a shadow of confusion crossed her face. She looked at him as if he had just spoken in a completely different language.
"No," she said softly. "Why would I do that?"
Sunny sputtered a little, waving his hand in the air. "Cough… u-um, you know….because you are very direct…" Sunny explained quickly. "You just asked me without any hesitation. You kissed me like it was the most normal thing in the world. Most people only act like that if they are... experienced. Or if they do not care who it is."
Cielle looked down at the dusty stone floor. Her wings drooped slightly, the white feathers brushing against the dirt. She looked small, and suddenly very gloomy. The confusion on her face melted into something worse.
"I do not ask other people " she said, her voice much quieter than before. "I do not want to kiss other people at the Academy…. they are very loud and annoying. I do not like them."
She looked back up at him. Her green eyes were sharp now. "I only asked you. I did not know you thought I would just go and do that with anyone."
Sunny felt a massive wave of guilt crash over him. 'You absolute idiot!!' he yelled at himself in his mind.
"I am sorry!" Sunny said quickly, leaning forward. "I really am. It is just... I overthink things. It is a bad habit of mine. I am not the best with these things and…. I shouldn't have assumed that."
Cielle stared at him for a few seconds and then she gave a small, stiff nod. "You overthink a lot of things. It must be very tiring for you."
Sunny let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "You have no idea."
She went back to eating her ration bar, and the tension in the small hollow eased slightly. But Sunny's mind was still racing.
His thoughts lingered back to the extent of her aspect, If she copied his aspect completely, would she copy the shadow bond too? Would she become a slave to someone? Or worse, would she somehow become bound to Neph just like him?
He did not want that. He wanted to be free, and he wanted her to be free.
The silence in the cave stretched on. The constant rumble of the falling island outside was the only sound. Sunny looked at her face one more time before he decided to let it be for now.
***
Cielle looked back at Sunny, watching him stare at the ground. She could see the tension in his shoulders and the tight line of his jaw. He was worrying again. He was always worrying.
She did not really know how to put it, even to herself, it was all blurry and a mix of indescribable things. She had determined one thing though.
But Sunny was different.
When she sat next to him, the noise of the world seemed to fade. His soul was quiet. His shadows wrapped around him like a thick, comforting blanket that absorbed the harsh edges of reality. He did not ask her to be anything she was not. He just let her be there.
She knew she was probably not the best person to be around, given his constant complaints and frustration, she was probably quite annoying… yet he never seems to leave. That was the part which confused her the most. She did not see the big deal though, what was so big about their activities… it felt good, and she knew he felt good too.
Cielle sometimes wondered to herself if all she wanted from sunny was his aspect. She did not like the sharp stab in her chest which those thoughts invoked. Her aspect was just a function of her soul. It copied what was near to her because that was its nature. While yes she uses her awakened ability to understand him better, she did not choose to sit in this freezing cave with him because she needed more power…. She chose it because of him. Because his presence was the only thing that made the constant, screaming bearable.
But when she thought about it, the more she realized that it was not right. Cielle already knew of her unfinished worldview, the blanks in between many social though she could not figure out what was there that needed to be filled. It was not a pleasant feeling, yet she somehow liked it.
'Maybe im a masochist too..'
She felt a hot sensation go down her spine as she involuntarily shivered.
***
The silence stretched for a long time. Sunny kept staring at the ground, trapped in his own head.
Cielle decided to break the quiet. She stared at his tense shoulders. "Was the Forgotten Shore very cold?"
Sunny blinked, pulled out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up at her, caught completely off guard by the question. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then let out a slow, tired breath.
"It was cold," Sunny said quietly. "Of course if you were ever unfortunate enough to be inside the dark sea, you probably wont notice the cold..But it was mostly dark you know. And it was red. There was a lot of red."
Cielle tilted her head. "Did you always worry there? Like you do now?"
Sunny let out a dry, bitter laugh. "I had to. Everything there wanted to kill us. But the monsters were not the worst part. It was the people." He looked back down at his hands. "Back then, you could say I was a loner"
He looked away from her accusing look and continued "I thought i had to measure exactly how much i was worth to someone every single day. The moment i faltered, i would be a corpse to them."
A sharp pang of guilt twisted in his chest. He still worried that cielle was doing the same to him, sizing up his aspect for her second core. He was projecting his own terrible worldview onto someone who did not even understand it.
Cielle's green eyes locked onto his face, reading the tension in his jaw.
"So you think I am measuring your worth?" she stated bluntly. "You think I am here to be useful, or to use you?"
Sunny winced. "I did not say that."
"You did not have to," Her reply came too fast.
Cielle shifted closer. She slid across the dusty floor until her knees bumped firmly against his. Sunny tensed, looking up at her in surprise. She leaned right into his space. Her white wings shifted outward, pressing against the stone walls of the hollow, effectively trapping him between her body and the rock.
Her face was very close to his. Sunny's eyes glued to her lips which suddenly looked different. He could feel the sudden, intense heat radiating from her skin, a stark contrast to the freezing chill of the Isles.
"I do not care about your use" Cielle said, her voice dropping to a low, steady murmur. "Your aspect is dark. Copying it is just a benefit. It is a function. I am not sitting in this cave for that" She told him the exact thought she had before.
Sunny stared at her. His throat felt incredibly dry. "Then why are you here?"
Cielle frowned slightly. "Because you are quiet. The world is very loud, Sunny. It always hurts. But when I am with you, it stops hurting so much. You feel safe."
She reached out. Her small hand pressed flat against his chest, right over his rapidly beating heart. The heat of her palm seemed to burn right through the puppeteer's shroud.
"I do not care about your shadows" Cielle whispered, her eyes dark and heavy in the dim light. "I am here because you are Sunny."
Sunny could not speak. His mind was entirely blank. A deep, heavy wave of guilt washed over him for ever doubting her, but it was instantly swallowed by something much more dangerous.
Cielle leaned forward and closed the distance. She kissed him.
It was not soft one. It was demanding. The moment her lips pressed against his, a sudden, electric heat flared between them. Cielle's breathing hitched. A visible shudder through her entire body.
Sunny groaned quietly against her mouth. He tried to hold back, his hands hovering uselessly in the air for a second, but his self-control completely shattered. He grabbed her waist and pulled her flush against his chest.
Cielle made a small, breathless sound at the sudden contact. She moved her hands from his chest up to his shoulders, gripping the fabric tightly as she deepened the kiss. Her mouth was hot and desperate, tasting like warm tea and something entirely intoxicating. Sunny kissed her back with a bruising intensity. He angled his head, his fingers sliding up her back to trace the sensitive line where her wings met her spine.
Her wings flared wide. The feathers shivered violently as she pressed herself closer, trying to eliminate every single inch of space between them. The air in the hollow grew thick and heavy. Sunny's mind was short-circuiting. He doubted he could put up any resistance to her right now.
They finally broke apart, both of them gasping for air.
Cielle pulled back just a few inches. Her lips were slightly swollen and her wings were still flared. Her eyes were a little unfocused and glassy. She stared at him for a long moment. Then, she gave a small, definitive nod to herself, as if the intense heat they had just shared was merely the confirmation of fact.
She turned around, picked up her flask of water with slightly trembling hands, and leaned her shoulder back against his arm. She stared out toward the entrance of the hollow, watching the dust swirl in the air.
Sunny sat frozen against the rock wall.
'Because I am Sunny…' he thought wildly.
His heart was hammering against his ribs so hard it actually hurt. His mind was spinning in endless, chaotic circles. The treacherous survivor of the Forgotten Shore, the guy who trusted absolutely no one... it all felt for nought right now.
Sunny looked down at her. She was leaning her weight against his side. Her breathing was still a little fast, but she was completely relaxed against him.
A slow, creeping warmth bloomed right in the center of his chest. It chased away the freezing chill of the Chained Isles. It was a fuzzy, heavy feeling that made his hands feel numb and his head spin. It was terrifying, and he knew he should probably stop it before it ruined him completely.
'I am doomed,' Sunny thought miserably, resting his head back against the stone. 'I am completely, entirely doomed.'
This was not him, and he knew that.. Yet he wished for this feeling more than most.
'I should be careful of what i wish for'
Note: Ok before continuing to read, ik that this might seem like the generic trope where there is this girl who is hurt and somehow marries the northern duke stuff, but trust me its not. I promise you that this will have decent character arcs and a well enough romance for you to enjoy, and i just wanted to tell you guys that i know till now, its mostly cielle dominant of this stuff but soon, i promise.. Thanks for reading.