Warning: there's a little gore in this chapter, reader discretion applied.
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Sunny found himself in a dark labyrinth; it sort of reminded him of the labyrinth back in Forgotten Shore, but this was worse.
Darker.
Scarier.
Yes, he was always afraid here. Afraid because Nephis would always chain him here.
Clankkkkk
There it was. The sounds.
CLANKKKKkkkkk
There were only a few seconds left.
Sunny ran. Ran past the memories of their time on the Forgotten Shore, of one of his happiest days until he was betrayed.
Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Left. Left again.
Upwards.
Haah huff
On one side he saw himself, back at the huge skull where he wondered things he long matured from. Then, on the other, when they cooked food or when he travelled across the Forgotten Shore—to the hollows and back—with his cohort.
All those memories haunting him.
Laughing at him.
Teasing him.
He should have known.
Known that it was merely the calm before the storm.
Every time. Every time he was left behind, merely an afterthought.
Right as he turned to the right, a blonde figure stood there, brushing her hair.
"Hey Neph, do you know saying Sunny's True Name will enslave him?"
"Wait... He has a True Name?" Nephis blinked.
"Oh right, you didn't know. It's Lost from Light... Haha, more like Lost from Height. I mean he's an outskirt rat, what is his worth?"
"Yeah, what a loser. Sure, he is talented with the sword and lies well, but he's still innocent. Naive even."
Sunny watched the scene unfold, each word stabbing his wounded chest. Each word making him grasp his chest.
"S-stop."
"Honestly, Neph, you should just enslave him. You know, let him kill Caster when you're weakened and then chain him like the slave he is." She giggled *innocently* but something about that made it scarier.
Sunny felt a shiver down his spine.
"N-no. Pl-please"
"Oh, he has a sister, should we kill her?"
This was Nephis.
"That's crossing the line... DON'T KILL HER. PLEASE."
"I WILL—I WILL DO ANYTHING."
"Nephis, after this is over let's leave Sunny and be with each other. This is the only way... or he will bother us like a damn cockroach."
And then, Sunny saw himself. The past him.
"Hey, are you guys done yet?" He walked towards them, thinking about sparring Neph for an attempt to learn the battle art better.
"Yeah, we are done, I am coming in a minute." Cassie shouted, while slowly letting go of Neph's soft hand...
'Do it now.' She lipped those words.
Then, Neph looked towards *him.* The him of the present.
"Chains. Tie him down."
CLANKKKKKKKKKKK
TRSHWWWW
CLANG
Sunny was pinned against the pillar, his body desperately thrashing against them, trying to free himself, yet unable to.
His eyes were wide with terror as he struggled. Another silver-haired figure appeared from behind him as she smiled... and a blonde girl from behind him.
"Ah... You put us through so much. You killed us." Cassie's lips twitched as a smile crept its way to her eyes in a creepy way.
"I even died before I could kill the three ghouls." Neph tiled her neck, licking her lips before bending down and taking the Midnight Shard.
"Ah, this is the gift I gave you."
KER-AK
THSW
The sword broke, followed by the Memory.
"Ah... It's time for you to die now."
And then a sword struck his left shoulder.
"Gah."
The sound escaped his lips which he sealed shut. He couldn't let them have their fun.
Splurt.
Blood flowed out, before he puked it.
Then, the world turned dark again.
He found himself in front of the mirror, this time he could see Neph holding a scythe right at his neck, her twisted grin still visible. Still terrifying.
'Lost from Light become my slave.' She mouthed, and then disappeared with clouds forming around her.
"I-"
He was tired already.
"Please... Stop. Leave me alone." His chest rose and fell, "Just... Leave me alone."
Those memories. He wanted them gone.
Yet he had to remember. Remember for what it meant. Remember what the consequences were.
"And remember that I don't deserve this love."
Red looked at Sunny through countless memories, through countless hardships... But also through the moment Sunny got him and Dew killed.
He felt rage. He felt satisfaction. He felt disgust—disgust towards himself for feeling this.
And then, he watched Sunny kneel before a woman. Chained. Broken. Betrayed.
The woman... That was who he loved? Someone who enslaved him?
'And he killed her.'
Or so the dream said anyways.
He listened to the childish lines being told while being deep in thought, digesting everything he learned about his son. He was, without a doubt, Sunny, and he did indeed regress.
His suspicion was correct.
Red slowly walked towards the kneeling Sunny, placed a hand on his shoulder, and whispered, "Don't give up," he paused as he turned himself into mist, "Stand up, son."
And despite seeing how they all died...
Despite having a treacherous thought telling him to hate Sunny...
Despite the worm of doubt planted in his head...
He wouldn't blame Sunny. Never. Not for this. Not for something not within his control.
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Sunny flinched and turned around, his hair standing firm with alertness.
"Never mind, he isn't here. He is dead." He sighed, for a moment forgetting that he was alive in this world.
Then, with a smile and a sigh, he moved to the next one. There, he lay on a tree—completely grey—a blue sky looked down on him. He looked at the yellow and orange pulling him into the ground—this was the moment he gave up on everything.
He recalled how he felt around then. How he was filled with utter despair. How he clawed the ground.
How his fingers bled. How his eyes stung. How his ears rang.
To find anything. Anything. Hope. Some message. Any—
His hands reached for the mirror as it pulsed with faint energy before pulling him inside.
All around him lives continued normally, the crowd bustling about an argument in the distance, a dog chasing after someone. Yet for him, it felt as though he was frozen in time.
There—if one looked closely enough—were four marks, three close to each other and the fourth a little further away.
"I- I failed my parents."
"Rain is dead."
"I- I killed her."
"Why did I trust her."
"If only I was there."
He muttered those words with the same expression. The same look. The same empty eyes. The same hollowness.
Then, an arm rose from the ground, clutching his legs. A head following the arm. It was of a teenage girl with pale skin and black hair.
"I died because of you."
He knew.
"Why weren't you there?"
He—he couldn't answer that. He couldn't tell her that he trusted the wrong person.
"You bastard. You had one job."
"And you failed."
He—He knew.
S—stop.
Just stop it.
'I know.'
So just—just stop.
"I left her in *your* hands. Not to make her someone else's responsibility."
It was a melodic voice, which once used to calm him down, but now it kept reminding him of his failures. She reached out to him from inside the tree, her arms wrapped around his neck.
"Even if you did—all you had to do was keep close tabs on her... You chose some random Sleeper over her dammit." She spat those words, her voice lingering with a tinge of venom and he could sense a trace of disappointment.
Turning around, he saw her eyes covered with bitter tears, and dropped eyes carrying the weight of a dark bag.
"If—if only you didn't ask me for some seconds that day. Rain could have been alive. If I was there then you wouldn't be such a disappointment."
Stop it.
The grip around his neck tightened.
Even Rain tightened her grip.
'I know I deserve to die...'
But stop.
Suddenly he felt a hand break his back, "You are weak. Pathetic. Fragile."
The voice sounded from the root of the tree, arms punching his back and breaking his bones.
"All you had to do was support one sister. One. Sister."
"And yet, you're a disappointment."
He paused. His punches stopped. The silence suffocated.
Suffocated him. Making him unable to breathe. Making him break.
"Tell me, son," He paused yet again, "where did I go wrong? Who taught you to steal? All you had to do was lead an honest life."
And yet you failed.
They were right.
They were right.
They were right.
He had to die.
He had to pay the price for his sins.
But—this time his dream changed. The ghost helped with that, not like he knew. A ghost at the corner of his eye, one disguised as his dad, helped with that.
"Stop with this charade. None of you are real. All three of you are dead, so get out of my mind."
All three of them tilted their necks, and looked towards him.
"I- I know I'm the reason all of you died, but before I die—before I die, I will atleast avenge Rain's death."
'When I'm done, please let me join you.'
He still had a goal.
And that was the moment it appeared, buried inside the sand. A broken frame remained there, all four of their photos broken.
"I will finish this, and then I will meet you all again."
He looked at the ring. His Memory. His hope.
Hope of meeting them.
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Red looked at Sunny, feeling satisfied with his new response. It definitely changed from whatever he used to see.
He smiled. His son could do it. He knew that.
Then, he found himself in the frozen wasteland called Antarctica, the freezing chills brushed over his pale skin. Around him, all the shadows started to dance on the white sheets of ice, as if waiting for the tragic moment to happen. Then, their gazes turned sharper as he felt their gluttony as they waited to devour him.
Red watched as Sunny stared at Nephis.
Thump.
Red watched him throw a head beside her legs. A blonde girl with blue eyes and around her silver specks of blue dust started to appear. It was the effect of a Memory being destroyed.
A silent gasp escaped Red's lips as cold droplets of sweat started to appear on his skin.
*Fear.*
*Hatred.*
***Wrath. Revenge. Kill. Kill. Kill.***
Kill. KILL. KILL.
*Sadness.*
Pity.
And an even stronger fear.
And then, at the corner of his mind, regret.
Red was overwhelmed with all these emotions laid bare, a treacherous wave crashed over him, freezing him there.
He was unable to move, and just then.
"Do you see what you've done?"
It was... Sunny.
"All this bloodshed? I did this all to become a Titan so I could fight against you. You killed her."
"You killed Rain."
"You just die, die, die."
Then, a smile crept up on Sunny's face before a laugh. A laugh right as someone behind him died.
Red looked at him. Mortified. Ofcourse, through his Flaw he could really tell that Sunny was faking all of this, and yet—yet he found himself hating this version of Sunny.
The Sunny that could kill this easily...
The same Sunny who acted human.
The same Sunny he saw break in front of him.
And the same Sunny who lived with regrets, only wishing to keep them safe.
The same Sunny with that sweet and gentle smile, which held back so much pain.
Those moments—those moments were one of the few that convinced him that he was, in fact, Sunny.
"I am sorry. I had to. I had to live Sunny, and now I—I am realising that I should have let you go. You had a sister, I didn't." It was the silver-haired girl. Nephis.
"All I had was an empty goal"
"I swear—I swear that if I ever had a chance to undo this then I would have used your True Name to force you out."
"Use my True Name? Without my permission? Who gave you the right to do that?" Sunny.
"WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?"
Then, Sunny lashed towards Neph—who took a defensive stance right after.
They fought. They clashed. They destroyed.
A lot of areas around them were destroyed, shadows rose from the ground, Sunny moved his body in the most efficient way possible without wasting any movement.
He fought like a skilled warrior.
But Neph held back. She didn't fight to kill. She played defensive the whole time, refusing to hurt him.
She showed the difference in their power.
Just as Nephis moved her sword to the left, attempting to parry Sunny's sword, a shadow erupted from her right.
Neph jumped up to avoid the full blow while using a Memory to propel herself behind, but the shadow was faster. It struck her knees as blood threatened to escape her body.
Neph tried to stand up, as she used her flames to heal herself, "About who gave me the right, I decided to do it for myself."
"I want you to save Rain, or maybe just trap Caster instead. That would solve it. But if it came down to it, I wouldn't want you to suffer like this."
"That... That is my only regret, Sunny. Letting you stay back."
"You're a hypocrite." Sunny spat the venom from his mouth, looking at her as his eyes turned bloodshot.
"But why are you making it so hard for me? Stop it. Stop saying all of that, and just die quietly."
And just then, three Category Four gates opened.
"Jet..."
He muttered under his breath, rushing back to help her, and saw a spike go through her chest, but just then the world turned white.
Red gasped for air, oh what a rollercoaster it had been. He fell, the same way a person would when faced with immense fear. His whole body was drenched in sweat.
"Wh-what? What just happened?"
Category Four Gates?
That too three of them?
And why was Jet there? How was she there?
And how did he know her?
What?
Then, the air suddenly grew weak. The wind cried. The wind feared.
The skies in the dream started to wither. Cower. Tremble.
Then, the skies darkened. The shadows enveloped as the world shifted to a dark hue. There, a Shadow stood.
The shadows around the Shadow danced, danced, danced.
Their Master was there.
"Who are you to enter my dream?"
It—it was Sunny. The bloodlust was palpable in the air, choking him as he lay there.
A chill travelled down his spine, and he shivered.
His own son.
He watched as a Serpent coiled around Sunny's hand, while he walked towards him.
'I—I am an Ascended. Why am I scared?'
He watched as shadows started to chain him. He felt the cold touch of death on his skin.
"D—dad? It's you?" Suddenly, the shadows shattered around him, and the bloodlust *almost* vanished.
Red opened his mouth to say something, but just then the world collapsed and cracked...
And he found himself in the Waking World.
***
"How did you know?"
That was the first thing Sunny heard when he woke up.
Before responding, he turned to look at the clock:
5:54 AM
Then, he rubbed his eyes and stretched his hands, purposely doing it just slowly enough to be annoying but not slowly enough to make the person rush him.
Then, he reached for the glass and poured some water, and brought the glass close to his lips. He turned to look at his dad—Red—and watched as Red looked at him. Really looked at him.
The gaze, it betrayed no emotion, only showing him what he wanted to see. There was no hint of annoyance, impatience, or even anger. All he could see was the dropped eyebrows and his gaze was trained on him.
Sunny sighed, "I have a strong mental fortitude. I noticed a 'ghost' which didn't belong to my dream, and remained everywhere. Especially since you were never in my dream like that."
"Another thing, I could feel my dreams being manipulated in a slight way, making it a little different."
Usually he would be alone, sometimes some people said different things, and another thing was that he was more lucid in the dream. Usually the dream would move on its own, but the mirror maze? Feeling the other things more clearly? Never.
That never happened.
"So, why did you enter my dream?"
"I-" Red replied, before being cut off again.
"Do you have any idea what I went through? HUH? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AFTER ALL OF YOU LEFT ME?"
Red flinched back like a child scared of a spider, "I—I needed to know. To know what the hell happened to you. Why you kept such big secrets."
"I am your dad, whether you like it or not. I need to worry about you. Care about you. Help you."
"What do you know about what I felt?"
Sunny paused, and then continued.
"You want to know about what I felt? Well, here you have it."
"I was alone for so long, without anybody to adopt me. I let Rain be adopted, and I didn't meet her when she left so things wouldn't become hard for her..."
"Then, I made up a fantasy like all those webtoons. I wanted to save Rain from abusive parents in a heroic way and tell her who I was..."
"Only, when I found her she was happy. She didn't need me."
Then, he felt something warm on his cheeks, but he still continued.
"I was ready to die."
"And then The Spell got me."
In the middle of it all, he found a reason to live.
In the middle of his journey in the Forgotten Shore, he found people to care about.
He found himself wishing to tell people about him, and his flaw. He knew the flaws of everyone in his cohort, yet never shared his.
Ofcourse, he didn't. And it was rightfully so.
"I ended up getting a divine aspect, but with a fatal flaw. I would become a slave when someone would say my True Name, and what do you know? I trusted a damn seer and another divine aspect user, who ended up enslaving me."
How pathetic was he to have feelings for his slaver? His master?
"Then, I came back to find Rain, only that she died. If only I didn't trust her. If only I didn't go back to help her."
If only he was there...
"She would be alive if it wasn't because of my decisions."
By now, his whole face was warm and moist. He realised he was crying.
"Hell, I even let Jet die, or atleast left her alone in between three Category Four Nightmare Gates."
"But you did see most of my dream, and saw how pathetic I was, didn't you? I wouldn't mind if you killed me or left me alone." He looked away, not meeting his eyes.
"But I am sorry about it."
Red looked taken aback, he did see how he felt in the dream, but for him to say that? To be dumped with the truth that all of them were gone, and he had no one left to trust? For him to lose everyone?
It hurt.
But not nearly as much as seeing Sunny blaming himself.
"Sunny... None of us would blame you for it. Everyone would forgive you." Red replied in a calm way, reaching close to hug him.
"That's because no one knows! People aren't forgiving like that!" Sunny pushed Red back, and moved before covering his face with his hands. He wanted to hide. He didn't—
"I do, Sunless. My son, and I know that no one here would blame you for it. If anything, they would hold you in their arms, and hug you. Apologise to you." Red replied, spreading his arms and allowing him to find comfort within them.
Sunny reached closer, wiping his tears, and finally accepting the embrace...
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Author's Note: Wow, this is the first time since chapter 1 that I have no stacked chapters. And damn we reached 134 hearts on the discord before the new year? And I bet you didn't expect a chapter this soon! A promise is a promise XD (I blame the rewrite of chapter 1 not coming on my proof reader)
Anyways, the last chapters have been in work for months, like the whole 8 year old arc (there should be a chapter or two more). Now that there are no stacks, welp. Atleast the next chapters won't be connected to this (apat fom character and stuff obviously)
Lastly, can we get four more reviews, a few comments and reach 139 hearts (on the discord, currently at 134) :D. I am asking for quite a bit with the hearts and being ungrateful (I am greatful for it but uh lemme be greedy)
Also like 40 more kudos since uh yeah
Thanks for reading!