Chapter Text
Sunny found himself standing at the brink.
Freedom was right in front of him, he had gone through so much to get here, stabbed, gutted and maimed more times then he could count, even so Sunny survived and grew stronger because of it.
Him, a mere rat from the outskirts, abandoned by the world and now he stands at the top as possibly the strongest Sleeper to exist, to ever exist, with just one step his nightmare would finally be over.
He would be the one who would triumph.
All it would take is abandoning Nephis in this forgotten hell.
Sunny stood still for a moment as he looked at Nephis, her long silver hair was caked with blood and she looked as if she could barely stand, even with her flames licking at her wounds, her armor and body were beaten and ragged.
The look of pain and sorrow were evident on her stunning face, but he could still see the burning resolve peeking from behind her striking grey eyes.
As Sunny momentarily lost himself in her beauty, he came to a sobering realization.
He…he had nothing.
Even if he went back to the waking world, what would be there to do? Rain doesn’t need him… she never needed him and that won’t change just because he was an Awakened, Kai and Effie would have their own lives to live, they would forget him eventually and Cassie had been keeping her distance since the Dark City.
Changing Star on the other hand?
She would have followers and fame, her conviction would blaze the path towards her nebulous goal to destroy the Spell, she was destined to make a mark on the annals of history and maybe lead humanity to a better future, like her family did.
The world needed Changing Star no matter how ruinous she was, but it did not need Lost from Light.
No one ever did.
The Crimson Spire shook again, the cracks on the platform crawling towards the gateway and its iron ring at its center bit by bit, and the sun above was waning, slowly approaching its death throes.
Looking up at the dying star, Sunny decided to be selfless for the 2nd time in his life.
He sighed and turned away from Nephis and slowly walked towards the gateway, unseen from her eyes, white sparks were materialising in Sunny’s left hand hidden by his body.
Nephis breathed a sigh of relief as Sunny walked away a small smile on her lips, “Take care of yourself Sunny and I hope you can find your sister, I promise I’ll be back”
“Rain” said as he slowly walked forward.
“Hm?”
“My sister's name is Rain, please take care of her Neph” Sunny smiled as he firmly grasped the memory that had materialised in his hand.
An Ordinary Rock.
Changing star was confused but before she could react Sunny spun and threw it right at her face.
The rock struck Nephis’ square on the nose with a sharp crack. Her head snapped back, and her hands flew to her face as tears welled in her eyes. Before she could recover, Sunny was there. The cold pommel of the Midnight Shard slammed into her temple.
A dull thud and her body crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
Sunny picked up her dazed form, ran and dropped her unceremoniously onto the podium. Nephis tried to resist, staggering toward him. He summoned the Moonlight Shard. A quick motion and drove the stiletto through her hands, pinning them to the gateway.
He held the dagger in its position, thankful his maneuver worked, if her guard was up and if she had been in her prime… this might have all been for nothing, he grimaced at the amount of pain that he kept causing her but this was necessary.
Nephis’ profile began to fade and blur, the blue runes ignited in the dim red darkness of the spire, her eyes were wide and panicked as she slowly focused on Sunny, Nephis started to move, struggling to pull out the dagger from the gateway.
“Sunny… NO!” Her efforts doubled but it was all for naught.
He forced a smirk on his face, hoping he could cover the daunting reality of his situation “Don’t worry Neph, you said so yourself, it would be difficult to kill a noble cockroach like me, right? I’ll… be fine, the world needs you more than it needs me, tell Cassie I hope she’s ok.”
She struggled, weak and clumsy, still dazed from the blow. Desperation burned in her eyes. “Don’t… say that…” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Sunny, please… don’t do this… don’t leave me too.”
His heart ached at her words, but he stood resolute, Nephis began to dissipate even more, her grey eyes met his filled with profound grief and unspoken emotions, but then filled with a sudden determination. She spoke 4 words that made his world crumble.
“LOST FROM LIGHT, ST-“ Changing Star disappeared, her words echoing in the broken hall of the Crimson Spire, as if heard in a forgotten nightmare.
Sunny stood there, eyes wide and shocked, trying to comprehend the weight of those words and deep within his soul, something moved and rose from slumber, triumphant. Unbreakable, eternal, irresistible. Complete, perfect, and sweet.
‘How did she know?’ Sunny thought as the cracks finally reached the iron rings, the runes extinguished and the podium they sat on fell apart.
Feeling a well of bitterness, anger, fear and relief surge in his heart, Sunny forced himself to look away. Now wasn’t the time for doubts. He sprinted to the platform’s edge. Wind howling as he leaped into the void. White sparks spun behind him, ending with the [Dark Wing] unfurled, catching the air and slowing his descent.
The Spire was collapsing. Coral shards rained down like a maelstrom. Sunny dodged left, then right. Too slow. A jagged edge slashed past his cheek. He gritted his teeth and pushed forward, relying on Shadow Sense to orient himself.
As he made it outside, he pumped his legs for all their worth, the Nameless Sun of the Forgotten Shore gave out one last blazing cry, and then collapsed without the weight of a soul to power it, Sunny ran and watched in awe as the Spire crumbled and the land was plunged into eternal darkness.
“D- damnation, that was close!” He stopped to catch his breath, wincing as the pain of this long and arduous siege finally started catching up with him, he was spent, broken and bleeding but thankfully Blood Weave kept the worst of it away.
‘I need to rest, I'm stuck here for the foreseeable future and I’m too tired to try and comprehend everything that went down in the spire’ Sunny tiredly looked around, he could thankfully see in the dark, but even then he felt a pang of fear at the sheer desolation around him.
The bodies of sleepers, the corpses of monsters, the breaking coral and… the silence.
It was unnerving.
“Ha- hah! well no problem, being alone in the darkness with no friends, surrounded by monsters and gods knows what else waiting for me, this is just like back in the Dark City, and I survived that perfectly fine! Right Gloomy?” He looked at his wayward shadow with a forced smile.
Gloomy looked at him, exasperation clear in his posture as he looked at his master incredulously, he shook his head but there was a faint tremor of worry in the shadow’s silhouette.
“Right” Sunny nodded and slowly began his trek to find a shelter to sleep in “I’ll be fine, I’ll… be fine.”
As Sleeper Sunless gazed upon this Forsaken Land, drowned in shadows he saw a twisted irony in his current situation.
“Fate is such a funny thing isn’t it? going through all of that, so much suffering just to end up without anyone just like in the beginning, I really am… Lost from Light arent I?” He let out a dry laugh.
Sunny walked on in a sunless land.