The cold settled in slowly as night approached. The radiant Seven Suns were now nothing more than masses of darkness hanging in the sky, where light no longer had a place. The only sounds breaking the silence were the constant ebb and flow of the sea waves and the whisper of the wind.
Well... and their footsteps. His and Nephis's.
They had finished their training some time ago, in which—unfortunately—he had lost.
"Stupid Aspect..." he muttered to himself. "Why do I have to kill so many people just to get soul fragments? I killed two Saints and barely got a hundred... Damn fate."
One of the reasons he'd lost that little match was obvious: Nephis had at least fifteen hundred more soul fragments than he did... and an extra core. She was a terror—a fully Ascended. Meanwhile, Sunny was still stuck, making no progress. That gave her the upper hand not only in strength, but in speed as well. That idiot really was lucky.
At least—he thought with resignation—she didn't have echoes as cool as his.
A faint sound of footsteps pulled him from his thoughts. It wasn't hard to guess who it was. No one else but his favorite star. Though, of course, only for now... because Sunny had a plan.
A master plan.
Simple. Precise. But risky. One that would mark a before and after. Everything had to go perfectly. He had already prepared it all meticulously: the steps, the angle, the exact timing. He just had to wait for Nephis to drop her guard...
No one made fun of him twice in a row, he thought with pride as he crossed his arms. That simple.
The only problem was... he was cold.
Damn sea. It always brought bad memories. At least this one wasn't like the one at the Forgotten Shore, where a great titan emerged at night in search of light to devour.
He hoped.
Though... what if those seven black suns—or whatever they were—were actually part of the sea? What if the sea tried to devour the sun every now and then? Assuming those things could even be called "suns."
If there was a creature capable of something like that, it had to be at least a damned titan. At minimum. He just hoped that, for once in his life, his paranoia was wrong.
And, luckily, it was.
After all, it wasn't a damned titan... right? It was an unholy one. Well—details Sunny didn't know yet. Better not to think about that for now.
He was interrupted again by the sound of footsteps. This time, they were much closer, which meant Nephis was nearly there. Sunny tried to put on his best serious face, doing his best to mimic Nephis's usual stoic expression.
Too bad he failed.
After all, he was excited to see her. Not just because he had missed her—after days of wandering around, being chased by a giant serpent—or because her very presence brought him an almost mystical warmth in his chest...
But because Sunny's revenge was near.
Though... it still wasn't time.
When he tried to turn around, he was suddenly interrupted by a pair of long, slender arms wrapping around his waist. He hadn't even seen Nephis move.
Even so, he didn't know how to react. Because even though he was supposed to be used to this kind of contact, something always lit up inside him whenever it happened.
A mix of embarrassment from the sudden closeness... and a strange, inexplicable warmth that enveloped him.
He had gone from being a street rat who didn't even trust his own shadow... to this.
And how could he not? After all, during the Forgotten Shore—and even during the month she lived in his house—Nephis had never been like this. Never... so close.
She had been kind, sure, but awkwardly so. Always wrapped in that aura of coldness and distance befitting a princess from what was once the greatest clan.
Stoic. Tall. Graceful. With silver hair like moonlight and a wild bearing that, somehow, was still elegant. Contradictory in every way.
And yet, now... she was the opposite. Still awkward, of course, but the fact that she herself initiated physical contact... well, that said a lot. The dumb smile forming on Sunny's face said the rest.
Maybe—just maybe—his revenge could wait. Just for today.
"Sunny... I think we should go to sleep," Nephis said, her voice tired, as if the weight of many sleepless days had finally caught up with her. After all, she had stayed alert for far too long... and only pretended to sleep for that prank.
Sunny nodded silently. With a somewhat shy motion, he gently removed Nephis's hands from around his waist, as if afraid of breaking something important. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Sunny summoned his beloved chest.
From it, he pulled a small sleeping bag that, unfortunately, only had room for one person. He turned to Nephis, looked her straight in the eye, and said with a playful smirk:
—Lady Nephis, I have nothing more to offer you than this humble sleeping bag.
His voice carried a teasing tone that didn't go unnoticed. Nephis didn't respond with words, but she didn't need to. Sometimes, actions said more. And well... the small smile that appeared on her face when he called her "Lady Nephis" was proof enough.
Because in that tone... it sounded cute.
She approached the bag, lying next to the fading chest as it disappeared in a burst of white sparks—sign that the memory was vanishing. Nephis stretched the bag carefully, checking its size. It was, of course, black. Luckily, it wasn't tailor-made for Sunny—otherwise, she wouldn't have fit.
Though honestly, it was still pretty narrow. Made for one person only. Even so, she stretched the small fabric and lay inside it. And truth be told, it was surprisingly warm and soft. Way better than the ground. Maybe that was why.
Sunny watched as she lay down and closed her eyes. Seeing her trying to sleep, he thought he might as well do the same. Even though technically, that sleeping bag was his...
But hey, Kai had once told him something about being a gentleman.
Didn't make much sense. He was still cold, but he also didn't want to see his star freezing through the night. So really, this was the best option.
Several minutes passed, during which neither of them could fall asleep. Both just pretended... until Nephis's voice broke the silence.
—Aren't you coming?
Her question sounded genuinely curious. Though... what kind of question was that? There was only room for one.
Too bad his flaw forced him to be honest. Or at least... half-honest.
—There's only space for one —he said calmly.
Thanks to his night vision, he could see Nephis's playful smile. And then, came the real question.
—Do you want to come? Besides... it's not like we haven't slept together before.
Sunny blinked, caught off guard. Since when was Nephis this good at dealing with his flaw? She was getting better every day. She knew when he was lying by omission, and exactly how to ask the right questions.
He was tired of the constant burden of his curse, of the fear of ruining or hurting everything he touched. So this time, he answered without hesitation.
—Yes.
Of course... the problem was that the last time they had shared a bed, it had been large, spacious, safe. This... wasn't. But she was right. He shouldn't be so embarrassed.
So, taking a deep breath and walking carefully, he made his way to where Nephis was waiting.
When Sunny slipped into the sleeping bag, he didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. They had done this before... and even gone further. But still...
Even though both of them had athletic builds, the bag wasn't made for two people, and to avoid being left out, Sunny was pressed far too close to Nephis. And well, now his embarrassment had doubled... because Nephis was a woman.
And with that came everything that a woman's anatomy implied. Especially one as tall as she was. But that wasn't what really unsettled him. Nor the fact that the scene was kind of funny, with the difference in their heights. No, it wasn't that.
It was the fact that he could feel every tiny movement she made. Their hands brushing against each other. Their bodies, so close, sharing the same tight space. Their legs uncomfortably tangled from the position. Her skin—soft and beautiful—grazing his with such natural ease it left him speechless.
He could smell her damp hair. After all, when Sunny returned with water, the first thing Nephis did was bathe.
He could hear her breathing—calm and gentle—and the way her chest rose and fell with every breath. As if, by some kind of magic, their rhythms had synchronized.
And of course... Sunny could see in the dark. So right before his eyes, he had the perfect image of what, to him, was the most beautiful woman in all of humanity. Her gray eyes, pure and mesmerizing. Her lips, pale red and so tempting.
Her small nose, and her long, delicate lashes, as if they had been painted by the hand of an artist with surgical precision.
Sunny stared, completely captivated by the sight in front of him. The only problem... was that even though Nephis couldn't see in the dark, she wasn't blind. They were close enough for her, with her Ascended eyes, to notice everything.
And yet, she said nothing. Because, well... if Sunny could read minds, maybe he would have realized they were somehow connected—thinking the same thing, feeling the same wonder. Nephis was just as entranced... lost in Sunny's onyx-colored eyes.
They both believed they had been caught by the other, vulnerable and exposed. So they didn't speak. Silence became their refuge, wrapped in a shared sense of embarrassment that drifted between them like a shy breeze.
Unable to keep looking, Sunny buried his face in Nephis's shoulder, as if that small gesture could hide him from everything. From his awkwardness, from the discomfort, from her. And Nephis... simply pulled him into a hug.
Not a hurried or aggressive hug, but one filled with the quiet strength of someone who wanted to protect. Her long, firm arms wrapped around him with a warmth that spoke louder than any words. She held him as if he were something precious, something she wasn't willing to let go.
In that moment, the discomfort faded. It no longer mattered how narrow the sleeping bag was, or how awkward their position might be, or how cold the night air had become. Because Nephis's warmth was more than enough to chase the cold away.
And with no more words, no more hesitation, they surrendered. Surrendered to the silence, to the shared closeness, to the foreign heartbeat that somehow felt like their own. They gave themselves over to the embrace of the night... and to dreams.