(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Twentyeight

Avaro woke up at his usual time, late seven PM. He was surprised to see that Lucerne was already away, sitting up in bed and looking deeply lost in thought.
"Lucerne?" Avaro yawned, rubbing his eyes.
The celestial squeaked in alarm. "Avaro! You're awake?!"
"Yes? I always wake up around this time. Why are you awake?" Avaro asked, sitting up.
"I was just worried about the elementals, I want to check up on them," Lucerne replied, avoiding eye contact.
Avaro frowned. He knew his friend wasn't being completely honest.
"Come on now, whats wrong? There has to be something else," he said.
Lucerne shook his head. "I already told you, there isn't anything else."
Avaro squirmed out from under the covers and scooted over next to his friend. "Is it about the old world?" He asked.
Lucerne didn't reply.
Avaro sighed, pulling the celestial into a side hug. "Come on now, you know we did the best we can. All the elementals are safe because of what we did,"
Lucerne stayed silent.
"The elementals all looked happy with their new homes, they even understood us when we told a more flushed out story about Zeru! We couldn't ask for a better reaction!" Avaro continued, trying to bring light into the situation.
His friend finally reacted with a small nod. "I know... I just..." Lucerne sighed.
"What's wrong?" Avaro tried again, worried for the celestial.
"I've done a lot in my life, some things I just want to forget..." Lucerne said, pulling out of Avaro's hug to get off the bed.
"Lucerne?"
The celestial beast stayed quiet, exiting the room.
Avaro sat there, alone on the bed, worried. He'd heard stories from Lucerne's work life, but none of them sounded bad. The worst Avaro could think of was that his friend always worked alone. For thousands of years. Separately from everyone else.
But Lucerne chose to work alone, right?
Avaro huffed and got off the bed to leave. He wanted desperately to know what was bothering Lucerne, but knew he couldn't pester it out. It was clear the retired celestial wanted to forget something that he remembered during the collapse.
"The collapse!" Avaro stopped, thoughts clicking together.
Lucerne's job was to travel the multiverse for any adnormalities and possiblity fix them. At some point he might have witnessed a deadly crash of a universe, traumatizing him.
It would explain what Lucerne had said a few days ago.
"Another world go,"
Avaro knew shouldn't feel exhilarated with what he would call a "big brain moment." But at least he now knew what could possibly be bothering his friend so much. Nightmares and trauma.
"Lucerne?" He called out, continuing to walk through the hallway towards the kitchen. It was empty.
Avaro frowned, heading to the living room, also empty.
"Maybe he's in the bathroom?" He thought, finding the room's door wide open and empty as well.
"He couldn't have left! Not without me!" Avaro paniked, retracing his steps back to the guest room.
"Lucerne!" He called out loudly, hearing his voice echo. "Sorry if I wake you, Renny," he added to himself. Unsure if the potion maker was even still asleep.
Avaro dug into his brain and followed the path back to the potion room. The  very first room he'd ever seen here when he was kidnapped.
To his relief, he found Lucerne.
"Lucerne! What are you doing in here?" He exclaimed, checking for Renny.
"I was just looking around, not touching anything," his friend replied quickly. "I swear,"
Avaro frowned, trusting him to have told the full truth this time.
"Why? Is Renny awake?" He asked, making his way over to his friend.
The celestial beast was examining a collection of empty used vials, size variating and all were labeled. Most were called "potion" with a few others like "strength" and "healing."
"I don't know," Lucerne answered with a shrug. "Maybe?"
"Well if she was, I might've woke her up," Avaro chuckled.
"I know, I heard you," his friend replied, walking off to look at something else.
"Why didn't you respond?"
"I didn't want to yell, you would've found me anyways,"
"I guess..." Avaro thought for a moment, trying to think of the best words to say. He didn't want to accidently pressure his friend into sensitive emotional areas.
"So, I know you're feeling a bit stressed," Avaro started, Lucerne staying quiet. "I get that, I just want you to understand that everything will be okay." The dragon moved over next to his friend and put an arm around his shoulders. "As long as we have each other and everyone else. You're not alone, trust me,"
And Lucerne started to cry.
Avaro hugged his friend, letting him get his emotions out. He didn't want to know the details on what happened in the past, he only wanted Lucerne to understand that all was okay.
Avaro felt bad for dragging Lucerne along with him when he wanted to leave OCTown. He felt forceful and cruel, not letting Lucerne have a choice or opinion.
"I really need to work on myself more..." Avaro thought as Lucerne cried in his arms. "I don't want Lucerne to feel obligated to follow me, just to keep me from getting angry," he sighed and patted his friend's back, trying to comfort him. "It's alright..."