Neither of them spoke for a long while.
The rain continued to slide down the window in thin trails, each drop tracing its own brief life before vanishing at the bottom of the glass. The storm had begun to weaken without them noticing, too engrossed in their conversation. What had once been a relentless downpour was now little more than a soft patter.
Beside her, Sunny had grown very still again. His hand rested lightly against Rain's hair, where he had been carefully undoing the tangles earlier. The shadows around the sofa were calm, gathered around him like obedient pets.
Pets that glared at her.
The silence between them was heavy. Filled with too many memories, too many accusations, too many things neither of them knew how to say.
Nephis let her gaze drift to Rain.
The girl had curled closer during the conversation. One of her hands was still clutching the dark fabric of Sunny's armor like a lifeline. Her breathing was slow and steady, her face relaxed in sleep.
Sunny noticed her gaze and followed it downward.
His expression softened in a way Nephis had rarely seen before, and just for a moment, the bitterness faded from his face.
"I thought I would never see her again," he admitted quietly.
Nephis did not answer.
His hand moved again, slowly combing through Rain's hair.
"Never," he repeated. "To think that once upon a time I was annoyed when she would fall asleep on me."
Despite herself, Nephis felt the corner of her lips move.
His mouth twitched faintly when he noticed. "I was seven," he said. "Don't judge."
"I was not," Nephis replied calmly.
"You definitely were."
Outside, the rain began to stop.
A faint glow appeared at the edge of the horizon, pale rays of sunlight bleeding slowly into the gray sky, heralding the dawn's arrival.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted Rain moving. It was subtle at first, a small shift of her shoulders, a tightening of her grip on Sunny's armor. Her brow furrowed faintly as sleep began to loosen its hold.
Sunny went completely still. His posture stiffened, shoulders drawn tight, as though unsure how to act around the only family he had left.
Rain shifted again, making a soft sound of protest as she buried her face deeper into the pillow of shadows beneath her head.
Nephis watched with quiet interest. For someone who had stared down horrors that could swallow cities whole, Sunny looked strangely uncertain.
Rain stirred once more, her eyelashes fluttering faintly. Then her eyes slowly opened.
For a moment, she looked lost, still caught somewhere between sleep and waking. Her gaze moved lazily across the room. The ceiling. The window. Sunny.
Her mind seemed to stop.
Nephis watched the realization spread across the girl's face in slow, catastrophic stages.
First confusion.
Then recognition.
Then horror.
Rain bolted upright in a single, perfect leap. Nephis had never seen her move so smoothly.
Sunny leaned back just in time to avoid getting head-butted.
She froze, her face turning bright red. "I didn't... I was..." Her voice kept growing lower, stuttering over every single word until she went completely silent.
Sunny raised an eyebrow, smiling playfully. "Good morning to you, too."
Rain stared at him in mortified silence, then she covered her face with both hands.
"Oh no."
Sunny snorted, a faint sound that turned into full-blown laughter.
Rain peeked through her fingers, and she immediately noticed Nephis sitting nearby. Impossibly, her face turned even redder.
"You saw that," she groaned.
"Yes," Nephis replied simply.
Rain dropped her hands and slumped back. "I was supposed to be on watch…"
"You were," Sunny commented idly. "Just a little too horizontally."
Rain glared at him.
"You are not helping."
Sunny shrugged playfully. "I wasn't trying to."
Rain looked away, clearly trying to recover what little dignity she had left. Then she hesitated.
Slowly, she glanced back at Sunny.
There was something fragile in her expression now.
The mood was high after his return, too many stimuli and distractions in too little time, but now there were none, and she was face to face with her long-lost brother.
Sunny smiled awkwardly, just as much at a loss about what to say now that the teasing was over.
"Welcome bac... I mean..." Rain began speaking, but her voice kept growing lower every time she started, her face growing redder too.
It made for such an adorable sight that Nephis couldn't stop herself from smiling.
Sunny sat up, his armor clinking softly as he did, and enveloped his arms around Rain. The girl went still for a moment, but soon enough she was returning it wholeheartedly.
"Thank you, Rain. I missed you."
-------------------------------------------
"So the sleeping beauty is back with us," Effie joked, winking at him cheekily.
He stared at the taller woman for a long, quiet moment and then took a step forward in her direction. The Huntress took a step back in reaction, something in his blank expression worrying her.
Undeterred, Sunny took another step forward, then another, and before Effie had time to react, he had crossed the distance and enveloped his arms around her.
"I missed you, too," he murmured softly.
The huntress stared down with a puzzled expression, her mind apparently having taken a smoke break. Then her face started growing red.
"This is so unfair," she complained, though she did not make any effort to pry him away.
Sunny let go and took a step back, smiling broadly. "Not so nice when it happens to you, right?"
Effie's glare implied clearly that there would be revenge later on. Sunny answered with a defiant smirk that challenged her to do so.
Kai chuckled, his face just as bright as it had been days before. "Did you miss me too?"
The shadow turned to stare at him. "Did I miss you?" he echoed.
Sunny shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say that he couldn't care less. Then, before Kai's expression could fall, he smiled and enveloped the archer in a hug of his own.
"Of course I missed you, you handsome bastard."
They laughed, and the world seemed to be warmer for it.
Nephis watched the scene with a smile on her face.
Rain was still close to Sunny, clinging to him as he would disappear at any moment. Effie and Kai were surrounding him, smiling brightly and peppering him with questions, which he struggled to answer before his flaw could get too painful.
Meanwhile, she stood a few meters away, not wanting to barge into their reunion. The knowledge that despite how strained their relationship had become, theirs was still just as strong was a relief. She was a little jealous of the warmth and ease with which they interacted, true. But that did not detract in any way from the honest happiness she felt knowing that he could still smile like that.
"Princess, are you going to join us or are you too busy ogling Doofus?" Effie called, waving at her.
Nephis rolled her eyes, amused despite herself. "I'm not you."
The other woman smirked. "You were staring just as much as I did."
She did not dignify that comment with an answer. There was no winning if she did.
Effie wiggled her brows at her lack of answer, taking her silence as a tacit surrender.
"Maybe we could continue this conversation outside?" Ever the mediator, Kai did not hesitate to interrupt.
"Why?" Nephis asked, having missed the reason.
Effie draped an arm around Sunny's neck. "Doofus here has promised to tell us all about his adventures, but he won't do it inside."
He rolled his eyes, though his expression was fond. "I just want to stand under the sun for a while. You have no idea how much you grow to miss it after more than a year in darkness."
Nephis glanced around the room. It was the same one he had originally fallen asleep in. Warm and comfortable, perfect for long conversations; however, she could understand perfectly his wish for a sunnier -pun intended- location. She herself had liked to spend some time under the sun after returning from the Forgotten Shore. And she hadn't been stuck in constant darkness for more than a year.
"The garden is beautiful," Rain piped up. "We should go there."
Sunny nodded. "Sure."
Taking that as her cue, Nephis started walking outside, leading the others with the ease of someone who had done it many times.
The corridors were quiet at that hour. Most of the Firekeepers were still in the Dream Realm, and the few that remained were busy with their own activities.
Soft light from the rising sun filtered through tall windows, washing the walls and the few trinkets resting on them in warm light. The storm had passed completely now, but the air still smelled faintly of ozone and wet earth.
Behind her, the others followed.
Effie was still half-leaning on Sunny, smirking at his half-hearted attempts at getting rid of her. Kai walked beside them with an easy smile, while Rain stayed close to Sunny's other side, occasionally glancing at him as though reassuring herself that he was truly there.
Sunny, for his part, despite feigning annoyance, seemed content.
Five minutes later, Nephis pushed the doors outward, and they stepped into the garden.
Morning light spilled across a wide stretch of green. Rain-washed grass shimmered with droplets that caught the sun like scattered diamonds. Winding stone paths cut through beds of pale flowers and dark shrubs, their leaves still heavy with water from the storm. In the center stood a quiet pond, its surface smooth except for the slow circles made by falling droplets from the surrounding branches.
The air was fresh and cool, filled with the soft scent of wet soil and blooming petals.
It was Shakti's pride. The Firekeeper with a gardening aspect had taken it upon herself to bring it back to glory after seeing just how unkempt it had become during Nephis's absence. A task in which she had succeeded and even excelled, given the beautiful sight.
Sunny did not speak.
He slowly lifted his face toward the rising sun and closed his eyes.
For a long moment, he just stood there, silently enjoying the caress of the sun on his face. Then, a faint smile stretched his lips.
Effie opened her mouth to say something, but Nephis shushed her before she could. The Huntress was smart enough not to ruin the mood, but better safe than sorry.
Rain stepped forward, standing right beside her brother. "How is it?"
He opened his eyes and turned to her, then patted her head gently. "Perfect."
The girl pouted at being treated like a child, but there was no missing the smile on her face. Smile he returned fondly upon noticing her expression.
Sunny took a glance around the garden and waved an arm. The many shadows around coalesced before them, shaping themselves into four chairs and a table.
Nephis wondered if he intended to leave himself without a chair, but before she could voice the question, sparks started coalescing right in front of him, and soon enough, there was an elegant chair before the vacant spot around the table. She snorted when she realized that it was far more ornate and magnificent than the plain chairs he had made for them.
Kai tilted his head, staring in appreciation at the beautiful piece of furniture. "Where did you get that chair?"
Sunny smiled mischievously. "In a millennia-old temple dedicated to my cousins."
The archer's lips tilted upward, amused at the apparent joke. His expression turned flabbergasted right after when his Flaw did not trigger.
Nephis didn't even question it. It was the kind of thing that happened to Sunny.
"Wait, we have cousins? And they built a cult?!" Rain exclaimed.
That was the part that she chose to fixate on? Nephis would have to increase her training.
As if capable of reading her mind, the teenager shuddered.
"Yes, and yes." Sunny, in comparison, seemed very amused.
Just as soon as all of them finished taking a seat, another Sunny arrived, carrying a tray of steaming cups for all of them.
"When did you have time to do this?" Kai asked, accepting his cup with a thankful smile.
Sunny shrugged. "My shadows have been exploring the manor since I woke up. Finding the kitchen wasn't hard."
Nephis accepted hers with a dubious expression from the calm-faced clone. Why Effie felt the need to pointedly stare at the original and then at the clone while wiggling her eyebrows at her, she did not understand. Then again, she never quite understood the Huntress.
For a moment, she considered the possibility that the coffee might be poisoned. She shrugged right after the thought crossed her mind. He was a Saint; if he wanted to kill her, there were far easier and more direct ways to do so.
She took a sip and grimaced inwardly, already regretting her rashness. Where everyone else's was just slightly hot, hers was scalding. It was only mildly annoying. The pain her flaw caused regularly was infinitely worse. Still annoying, though.
Of course, he was that petty.
Nephis rolled her eyes at him and almost laughed when the chaotic mix of emotions that always seemed to encompass his eyes when staring at her turned, if only for a moment, into triumph.
At least it tasted great.
Effie plopped her legs over the table and made an exaggerated, pleased sigh. "Transcendent furniture sure is nice. Have you considered retiring from the Awakened life and turning into a furnisher?"
Sunny rolled his eyes. "I have no idea what that is, but if you are asking, then no."
The Huntress pouted exaggeratedly, then took a sip from her drink. Her eyes shone with delight right after. "Finally, someone who gets how much sugar I want!"
Nephis arched an eyebrow. "You mean that he has put enough of it to give you a toothache after one cup?"
Effie nodded without shame, then gave Sunny a proud thumbs-up. He did not seem proud of that fact.
Kai stared dubiously at his own cup before visibly steeling himself and taking a sip. He relaxed right after, realizing that it did not contain the same amount of sugar as the local glutton.
Rain, unlike the archer, grimaced at her own cup, not being a fan of the drink, though she changed her expression after trying it.
For a moment, Sunny watched them enjoying the drinks with a content smile, then leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his own.
Nephis leaned back in her own and gave Sunny an appreciative nod. Despite being made of shadows, it felt supremely -transcendentally?- comfortable. Maybe he did have a future as a furnisher after all.
He returned the nod with a flat stare, then his eyes drifted downward to his own armored state, and an idea seemed to flash through his mind. Shadows enveloped him, completely hiding him from sight.
"What are you doing?"
Rain's question was left unanswered for the moment as the shadows seemed to writhe within the black cocoon, from which sparks emanated soon after.
Nephis leaned forward slightly when she noticed the twitching come to a halt. The shadows started receding slowly, almost ceremonially, as though reluctant to release their master.
For a moment, no one spoke, entranced by the sight.
The armor was gone. In its place was a suit.
It was purely black, not merely dark fabric, but something deeper, richer. The material looked like woven night itself, shifting subtly as if the shadows that formed it were still alive. The jacket fit him perfectly, hugging his lean frame without a single crease. The trousers fell in clean lines to polished shoes that seemed carved from darkness.
Every detail was immaculate. The cut was elegant, almost aristocratic. A black rose rested on the lapel, not pinned there but grown. Its petals were formed from layered shadows, soft and impossibly detailed, each one drinking in the morning light.
Sunny adjusted one of his cuffs with mild satisfaction.
"Well," he said casually. "Armor is great, but it's not exactly comfortable."
Effie blinked. Then blinked again. "That's so unfair."
Kai slowly lowered his cup to stare appreciatively. "I like it."
Rain stared at her brother as though unsure how to react.
Nephis said nothing.
The suit was perfect. Elegant. Refined. A stark contrast to the boy she had first met at the gates of the Awakened Academy and later on the Forgotten Shore. That boy had been unkempt, rough around the edges.
This Sunny looked like someone who belonged in a royal court.
The contrast was… distracting.
His skin looked almost unnaturally pale against the deep black of the suit and the small peek of the serpent tattoo that could be spotted beneath his shirt. The faint scars scattered across his hands, neck, and face -barely visible unless one knew where to look- seemed even softer now, like echoes of a past life.
Then there was the ring. The silvery band on his finger caught the morning sunlight, reflecting it in a small, quiet flash. It was the only piece of color on him and, for some reason that Nephis could not pinpoint, it fit him splendidly.
Effie leaned forward across the table, squinting at him. "You look like a villain," she stated flatly.
Sunny lifted his chin smugly. "A stylish villain."
"That doesn't help."
Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"I don't know," he said slowly. "He looks more like a very rich noble who secretly runs a criminal empire."
Rain immediately nodded.
Sunny shook his head, amused despite himself.
Effie grinned. "Come on, Doofus. You can't just come out of a shadow cocoon dressed like that and expect normal reactions."
Sunny glanced down at himself. The shadows rippled faintly along the sleeves of the suit, adjusting themselves to better fit. "I still think I'm stylish."
"I agree," Nephis backed him up immediately.
It wouldn't do if he decided that the look wasn't for him.
Sunny stared at her, caught between appreciation and another emotion she couldn't pinpoint.
"Okay, Doofus' nice evil suit aside-"
Effie ignored Sunny's indignant complaint easily.
"-There has been enough stalling. Tell us about your nightmare." She pointed at him dramatically, like he was the accused in a trial. "It couldn't be that bad if you overcame it as a Sleeper. I bet it cannot compare in difficulty to ours. We had to kill five Saints to beat it, after all."
Sunny tilted his head, brows furrowing in thought. He spent a few seconds like that. Soon after, a serene smile spread across his face.
Nephis felt goosebumps.
"You are probably right, it really cannot compare." He shrugged lackadaisically. "I guess you cannot compare killing five Saints to defeating countless hordes of Nightmare Creatures up to the Corrupted rank, killing a Supreme, helping bring down a Divine Monster, killing a Great Beast, and finally a Sacred Titan."
Effie stared at him numbly for a long moment, a complete lack of understanding painted on her face. She laughed soon after and turned to Kai, awaiting his intervention to tell them all that he had just lied.
The archer's face was painfully blank. Not a flicker of emotion seemed to pass through his eyes. Slowly, painfully so, he rotated his head to look Effie in the eye. Still painfully slow, he stared down at the coffee in his hands and brought it to his lips.
When he finished, his hands were shaking so much that it looked like the cup would fall out of them. His eyes were dead, like he had seen countless horrors, and there was nothing left of his soul.
"You had to challenge him, didn't you?" Kai asked, his voice sounding more bitter than she had ever heard it.
Effie paled, catching the implied meaning behind his words, and so did Rain a moment later.
Nephis didn't blame them; her expression was probably the same.
Just what had the crazy shadow done?!
Speaking of him, he was leisurely drinking, the same serene smile plastered over his face. There was no missing the smugness in his eyes.
"Ah, I get it." Effie nodded sagely. "This is a prank. You and Kai colluded to play one on us."
He smirked confidently. "He and I haven't been alone a single moment since you two arrived."
Rain nodded shakily. She had been by his side all that time and could attest to the fact.
"Kai...?" the Huntress pleaded desperately.
The archer wasn't in a forgiving mood. "I really, really hate you."
"How?" Rain asked, conflicted between awe and pure terror at what Sunny had just revealed like it was nothing of note.
The shadow's eyes glinted. "Your brother is just that amazing."
Nephis coughed softly. "Do you mind starting from the beginning?"
He stared at her for a long moment, deciding whether to acquiesce to her petition. In the end, he shrugged.
"I don't. Any part in particular?"
"How about right after the Raid on the Crimson Spire?" Rain proposed. "I know the story up to that point."
"Sure, as good a place as any, I guess." He shrugged again. "I spent the immediate months after it fell burying all of the Sleepers who died during the battle."
Kai smiled warmly -although his eyes still seemed hollow- at that piece of information. "Thank you."
Nephis and Effie echoed it. Pale as the comfort might be, it was reassuring to think that at least they wouldn't have to rest out in the open, where Nightmare Creatures could use them as carrion.
Sunny smiled uncomfortably at the genuine appreciation.
"After that, I passed the time by hunting down every creature in the Dark City." He puffed out his chest. "There was none left by the time I was done."
Effie rolled her eyes. "Like there were that many to begin with."
"Were you there? No? Then your opinion doesn't count." He ignored the rude gesture the Huntress threw him and continued. "With that task done, I set out in search of another Gateway. It took a while, but I eventually found a new region traveling west from the City. It's always raining inside, so I called it 'The Tears.'"
Rain stared at him dubiously. "That's a very… imaginative name."
He smiled proudly, missing what she meant. "What can I say? I have a poetic soul. Anyway, I spent some time traveling until I ran into some annoying pests. As the awesome Sleeper that I was, they died quickly, and I got out with nothing but some minor flesh wounds."
While the others did not notice it, Nephis did not miss the slight twitch of his eyelid. There was more to the story.
"I spent a while more traveling until I ran into a breeding ground of them." He smiled faintly. "I wasn't in the mood to kill them all personally, so I killed a mountain instead, and the mountain did the rest of the work."
"How do you… Do you mind telling us how you even kill a mountain?" Nephis asked, trying and failing to come up with an explanation.
The others looked just as puzzled as she was. She even spotted Kai smelling his coffee, his expression saying that he dearly hoped there was some alcohol in it. No such thing happened, and his eyes became even emptier.
A quick mental calculus placed the events around the time of the premiere of that accursed movie. Somehow, she had even more questions now than she did back then.
He smirked. "Sure, with lots and lots of patience."
"That answers… nothing."
Sunny smiled and continued. "I ran into another clan of Nightmare Creatures, but I also came out of that confrontation safe and sound." His eyelid twitched again. "While I ran away, I found the remains of an ancient civilization. Thanks to them, I found out about a possible Gateway, so onward I went to find it. One thing led to another, and I ended up staring at the tapestry of Fate."
"How the Spell do you even stare at the tapestry of Fate?" Effie's face made it clear that she, too, wanted some alcohol.
"I have the coolest mask ever."
The Huntress blinked and stared mournfully at her cup. As soon as they were done, she was probably going to get drunk enough to kill a dozen mundanes.
"Where was I? Ah, yes, I stared at the tapestry of Fate. It showed me some… interesting facts." His voice dripped with poison for a moment, then he took a deep breath and resumed talking right after. "But that's not important right now. It showed me a direction to follow, so that's where I went." He smirked, and Nephis felt goosebumps. "A month or so later, I ran into an Unholy Titan, but when he looked me in the eyes, he backed down without touching a single hair on my head."
Effie's fist smashed on the table, cracking the transcendent furniture. "Bullshit."
Sunny kept smiling and nodded in Kai's direction.
With an expression of unmitigated terror, Effie turned to the same sense.
The archer's face looked like an expressionist work of art. Whole essays and theses could be written about every crease in his face, every line, the silent world-ending horror in his eyes. The way his mouth hung open, like it had forgotten how to close itself.
Nephis had seen the broken expressions of countless veterans of the Dream World, of people who had seen and done too much. They couldn't even come close to comparing to Kai's expression.
"How?" the archer croaked painfully.
Sunny shrugged nonchalantly, like it was nothing of note. "I'm just that impressive."
Rain's eyes shone so brightly that Nephis thought they might start sparkling.
He resumed his tale. "Eventually, I ran into the Temple I mentioned before."
Rain tilted her head in confusion. "Our cousins live in the Dream World?"
"Only one of them remains, but yes." His smile turned somber. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it was also faintly sad. "I don't recommend meeting him just yet, though. He's kind of an eyesore. Anyway, waiting outside were the leaders of the Nightmare Creatures I spoke about, a Corrupted Beast and a Fallen Terror. Things got a little rough, but after I killed a statue, everything went smoothly."
"How do you kill a statue?"
Sunny smirked. "With lots and lots of patience."
"You are enjoying this," Kai accused him.
Sunny did not answer. Which meant that he did, as far as Nephis cared.
"I entered the Temple, and it turns out that there really was a Gateway inside. Pity I couldn't use it."
Rain's expression was confused. "Why not? Aren't they supposed to be usable by anyone?"
"They are." He answered the second question. The world around them dimmed right after, and Nephis spotted the twitching of his shadows. "As for your first question, well… it turns out that this specific Gateway has a requirement that I did not meet."
Beneath the table, her fists closed so tightly they hurt. Their eyes met briefly, and something terrifying passed through his.
He broke eye contact and continued, as if nothing had happened. "I was a little sad, but after inheriting the legacy of a Daemon, I recovered and moved on."
Kai's face was so white she feared for a moment he might have died.
"I spent some more months traveling, and I ended up finding the Nightmare Seed I challenged. There wasn't anything special. Just a city filled with thousands upon thousands of Nightmare Creatures." He lifted his chin proudly. "But don't you worry, they didn't put a scratch on me."
He took a sip from his cup, taking the chance to regain his breath and refresh his throat after talking nonstop for so long.
Nephis felt like she had even more questions than she had before he started talking. Something all of the others seemed to reflect.
Knowing him, she would be surprised if half of it was the veridic truth and not just a twisted version.
"I became a coffee shop owner inside, a very popular one at that." He sighed wistfully. "Sadly, it didn't last. One of my clients was rather… forward, and I had to leave that life behind."
Nephis's eye twitched.
"After that, I joined the defenders of the city. Things were nice for a while. The Goddess ruling the realm even called me irresistible once-"
Would it be blasphemy if she killed a Goddess?
"-but then some asshole named Auro showed up and corrupted the Goddess. The other God had to kill her-"
Never mind.
"-at which point, a very close friend of mine and I dealt with him. He was the Supreme I mentioned, by the way. Annoying guy, really punchable face." He murmured something beneath his breath, something that none of them managed to catch. Nothing good, that was for sure. "…anyway, we won, and after killing a few more hordes of Nightmare Creatures, including a Great Tyrant, we had to deal with the remaining God." He winked playfully. "But that's fine, he was down in little more than a minute."
Nephis knew that he was speaking about dreams, and yet she was starting to wish for some alcohol too.
"I spent a while just taking care of the city. I practically ran it at that point. But then I met… someone, and that part of my life ended too." He went silent for a moment, staring far into the distance. He shook his head shortly after and resumed his tale. "I spent some weeks preparing myself, and then I killed a Great Beast. Wasn't even that hard. I just pointed some light at her, and she died. Kind of anticlimactic, honestly. Didn't even scratch me."
The worst part was that he did have a Supreme Memory, so at least the part about killing a Great Beast was the factual truth, though she doubted it went as easily as he said.
It hurt her pride and ignited her competitive spirit all at the same time. She wasn't going to allow a Sleeper -even if it was Sunny- to outdo her.
As for the others, Kai was slumped face-down on the table, dead to the world. Effie had a thousand-yard stare, and Rain was eating some popcorn that one of Sunny's shadow had brought at some point. Nephis lamented inwardly about favoritism. She wanted popcorn too.
He continued talking, acting like nothing was wrong with his audience. "After my glorious victory, I met a Sacred Titan, a nice though deceitful woman. Some things led to another, and before I knew it, we were inseparable."
Nephis's eye twitched harder.
It was a testament to just how much damage had been dealt to Effie's psyche that she did not comment on what he had said.
Sunny smiled sadly. "We had a disagreement about some personal stuff, and in the end, I had no other option than to... to kill her."
Rain, sensing his distress, gently grabbed his hand, inadvertently smearing it full of salt and grease from the popcorn. Despite it, Sunny smiled, comforted by the gesture.
"I met the Shadow God right after."
What?
"And… huh? I forgot who else." He shrugged. "Probably no one important. We had a custody dispute, which I totally won, no matter what he says."
…what?
"My memory is a little fuzzy after that, but I remember taking a walk, and before I knew it, the nightmare ended." He finished at last.
He took a long sip from his drink.
Sunny's eyes drifted through his audience, first to Kai, slumped against the table with dead eyes, then to Effie, hollow-eyed, then Rain, who was vibrating with energy. Finally, he looked at her, though his gaze did not linger.
"Any questions?"
Effie snapped out of her shock long enough to glare at him murderously.
"Yes." She inhaled slowly. "What. The. Fuck?"