Sunny woke up with a groan and felt something on his right shoulder as well as multiple snores. He lifted his head slightly to see Eunbin sleeping on his shoulder. Lifting his head entirely, Sunny realized that he was still at the table in the dining area. Extending his Shadow sense across the emporium, he felt his sister's shadow in his room, along with Aiko, far across the room on the floor. Sunny guessed that Rain was too tired to go home and dragged herself upstairs to sleep in his bed.
Looking around, Sunny saw Uno cards scattered across the tables, and people were asleep in various positions around the room; some were even lying on the floor. It was a strange sight to say the least, considering that most of the people here were Masters and Saints who didn't need to sleep as often as mundane humans required to.
Master Rhaspody, who had joined later in the night, was sprawled on the floor asleep along with Moonveil and Revel, who unsurprisingly joined when night descended over Raven Heart. Sunny was disappointed that there was no electricity in the dream realm yet, because if there were, he would have taken a picture of the sight with his communicator. Lucky for him, he had a frighteningly good memory, second only to Cassie's.
The people who weren't asleep were his two avatars, still in their costumes, silently moving throughout the cafe, cleaning up the mess from the previous night. Along with Kai, who was sitting at the table with his costume still on, as well as Mordret, who had at some point grabbed a book and was reading with an emotionless expression and occasionally glancing at Seishan.
The princess was currently using Mordret's left shoulder as a resting place for her head as she slept, her right arm slightly looped around his left. Sensing his gaze, the prince of nothing stopped reading and looked up from his book at Sunny, and gave him a pleasant smile.
"Good morning, Sunless," Kai said, suddenly smiling at him.
"Good morning," Sunny smiled back.
"Sunless, good morning, my friend. I must confess that I have not enjoyed myself as much as I did last night in a very long time. I should have warned you that those ladies are very competitive when it comes to playing games with each other, especially with card games like this; as you saw, it gets very intense." Mordret gestured around the cafe and closed his book with a smile.
Sunny didn't return the greeting and instead sighed bitterly. "Yeah, I noticed that. I was convinced they would put a hole in my emporium by round six. I didn't think Moonveil and Howl were such sore losers." Sunny moved to get up, but then remembered Eunbin was still resting on his shoulder when she sleepily tugged him back down.
"It seems like things are developing well between you two," Mordret said, raising an eyebrow at him with a polite smile.
Sunny decided to play nicely while he still had the patience. "The same could be said for you. I didn't know you two were a thing."
Mordret glanced at Seishan with a blank expression. "No, unfortunately, we are not. Perhaps if I weren't the way I am, then maybe, but I am also far too consumed by my goal of killing my father at the moment. After it is done, then yes, perhaps I will pursue a relationship with her; then again, I doubt I'm capable of such a thing." The Prince of Nothing admitted with a shrug.
"As for your earlier statement, yes, I suppose they are going well, slowly but most definitely surely." Sunny sighed quietly.
"That's good to hear. Take your time; there is no need to rush these things." Kai brightly smiled at him.
"Do you two want to know something?" Mordret asked, having taken off his mask of friendliness and replaced it with a emotionless expression.
"Not really," Sunny shook his head.
"Spit it out, " Kai said with a frown.
Mordret ignored Sunny's answer and continued. "If I weren't the way I am, I wholeheartedly believe that we could have been friends, the three of us, I mean. Wouldn't that be grand? To have people I could rely on. Ah, there's no point in fantasizing, though, perhaps in another lifetime."
Sunny said nothing for a while as he was revolted at the thought of such a thing, but the more he thought about what Mordret noted, the more he couldn't help but begrudgingly agree with it as much as he hated the bastard. He could see himself getting along with him, and it made Sunny wonder just what this wretch's flaw was.
The inability to feel remorse would make far too much sense and would explain a lot of things, but something told Sunny that was far too far-fetched. He dismissed his thoughts with an inward shake of his head.
"Do you feel sad about the things you've done?" Kai asked in a forced, polite tone.
"No, I don't get sad, I'm never sad nor do I feel bad," Mordret said bluntly.
Kai scowled deeply at the statement and nodded at Sunny, his green eyes never wavering from Sunny's onyx eyes, as his friend had learned not to stare the bastard in the eyes
Of course not, Sunny inwardly scoffed at him
"Are you going to keep that thing on forever?" Sunny asked, pointing to the costume Mordret still wore.
"Oh, this? I will definitely get rid of the costume, but I might keep the monocle. I've grown to like it over the night, but unfortunately, it does not go well with my suit." He adjusted the monocle and slipped on his pleasant smile again.
Damn, weirdo who goes around wearing a monocle for fun?
Sunny glanced at Eunbin's sleeping form. The expression on her beautiful face was peaceful; her alluring body rose and fell with each breath. She leaned onto his shoulder, relaxing more, and Sunny suddenly decided that he could stay seated for a bit longer and tolerate Mordret for a little longer.
As Sunny thought of this, Eunbin slowly stirred awake and looked around with a sleepy expression, then turned her gaze to Sunny, her eyes slightly widening as she saw Kai smiling in amusement and Mordret in interest, quickly realizing where she was lying her head at. She cleared her throat and attempted to regain composure with a smile
"Ah, Sunless, I wasn't aware I was resting on you. You should have told me." Eunbin avoided his gaze, her gaze fixated on the walls of his cafe, and nonchalantly summoned a pocket mirror to check her face for anything out of place, but her cheeks betrayed her as they slowly turned pink. It was a strange but welcome sight as Sunny didn't think the enchantress with her usually aloof face was capable of having such a reaction but then again he knew Nephis so he shouldn't have been that surprised.
"I didn't mind, plus you seemed far too comfortable to be woken up. I would do the same thing should this happen again." Sunny smiled at her reaction and shrugged carelessly.
Once Eunbin fully regained her composure, she looked at him with a sincere expression that turned playful as her scarlet lips twisted into a smile, and she raised an eyebrow. "Should what happen again, the outing or the party?"
"Both," Sunny admitted.
"I see, surely you're not saying that in hopes that I lie on your shoulder again." She eyed him with amusement.
"Of course not!" Sunny immediately denied.
"So you don't want me to lie on your shoulder again? That's a shame, I thought you were pretty comfortable." Eunbin softly giggled, causing Sunny to have to stop himself from swaying in place.
"I do, but I'm not going to hold my breath." Sunny kept his tone even.
Did she really think he was that shameless?!
He was never shameless; in fact, he couldn't name one time when he was ever shameless!
"If you say so," She leaned her shoulder against his own with a sigh.
"I'm not that shameless, you know?" Sunny said defensively.
"Oh, yes, because I'm not speaking to the same man who tried to steal a chest of coins from a nightmare creature." Eunbin filled her eyes, causing Kai and Mordret to look at him with interest
"That was different!" Sunny shot back and poured a glass of lemonade, one of his avatars had brought out earlier.
"What an interesting man you are, Sunless." Mordret smiled at him and took off his monocle. He pointed it directly at Sunny, angling it so that it reflected the glass of lemonade Sunny was holding, then reached into the monocle and pulled out the reflection of the glass, leaving the object without a reflection.
Sunny couldn't help but be fascinated and disturbed as he had only seen Mordret do that once, and that was when he grabbed the reflection of the cruel sight after the bastard invaded his soul to kill him. Eunbin shared his thoughts as she stared with fascination as well.
"How convenient, I'm sure that saves a lot of time." Eunbin mused softly.
***
Far away across the dream realm, instead of the early morning gloomy sky, was a bright, sunny day with people bustling about the busy streets of Bastion. Children played, parents chided them not to stray too far, and food vendors shamelessly advertised their businesses. The citadel was alive and awake, though the same could not be said for everyone, as their days were beginning and for some ending as they were getting ready for bed.
"Wake up, Alrec, wake up, you lazy fool!" A voice berated him while shaking his shoulder violently.
"What? What?!" Alrec groaned, moving to get up out of his bed and rubbing his eyes. He looked around and saw his roommate standing by his bed, with an impatient expression.
"King Anvil is coming down to Bastion today and has called everyone to a meeting, from Saints to Masters like us to awakened. Princess Morgan tells us that we are to greet and escort his majesty when he arrives at five o'clock in the afternoon."
"Oh shit! What time is it?!" Alrec shot up out of his bed.
"Three in the afternoon," Ben informed him through gritted teeth.
"Then why the hell are you waking me up so late?!" Alrec scowled.
"I tried for the past five minutes," His friend shrugged.
"Why us?! He's a sovereign for spell's sake! What does he need a couple of Master's for?" The Master complained.
"He doesn't need us, you idiot, it's for formalities! You know this."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Alrec frowned.
"Get up and get dressed, we have a long day ahead of us, the king should be ready within an hour."
Alec let out a long sigh, "Indeed, we do."
At the exact moment, where guards were stationed outside the castle of true Bastion, the Masters could hear the steady, emotionless sound of a hammer hitting a sword with cold precision, this sound that went on for weeks and sometimes months, suddenly stopped.
They felt him before they saw him, an overbearing presence one that was colder than steel and demanded respect. It weighed down on the guards like several mountains of swords, following that presence were the sounds of heavy footsteps echoing throughout the halls of the broken castle and outside near the calm lake that hid horrors underneath where many of their comrades met terrible and unspeakable ends.
The footsteps came to a sudden halt and the masters moved to turn their gazes from the lake to the doors of the castle and to await their king with bated breath and a calm facade before they heard a calm deep voice address them. The masters hadn't even heard their king move to them.
"Find Morgan,"
Sorry for the short chapter, the pacing feels meh. I'm honestly not a big fan of this chapter in general; it just doesn't sit well with me. Let me know what you all think.