Fallen Stars

Second try

Kei'ral "woke up" all of a sudden, feeling the intense pain of his body being crushed horrifically. But little by little it faded away, allowing him to feel the water pouring down from above. He was in the shower, even though a moment ago he was in the institute getting pummeled by a Rajang. Now he was back in his house, and the wounds he had were completely gone.

He was sure he had died. There was no mistake on it, it felt so familiar. But in the moment of calmness, another excruciating pain assaulted him, this time on his head. As flashes of different memories started to appear in his thoughts.

A mall, a giant void creature, blood... and the pain of death, followed by rebirth. And then his thoughts moved somewhere else. As if he was trying to cope with the pain and sorrow of those memories, his mind immediately tried to recover more images.

It was only flashes, but they were filled with emotions.

It was just her, smiling with him, laughing. They were faint memories, but there were so many emotions packed into them. So many emotions directed to that fox girl.

...

Kei'ral: Did I love her?

...

Outside of his house, a sparkling light moved back and forth on the rooftop of the house, making light of her steps to not be noticed by the residents.

Her first instinct was to rush to see if he was alive, after the nightmarish situation she had just lived in, but as soon as she arrived at the house, she heard Kai'sa telling her mom that Kei'ral was taking a shower, around half an hour ago... It was a baffling situation, she didn't understand how things were from one point to the other, but they did.

Ahri was there, trying to think of anything that could give her the courage to step inside the room below her and see who she wanted to see. But nothing came, as it felt like a fruitless effort. She wanted to go in and finally get to embrace the person she fell in love with but of course, he didn't really love her back, or at least, she wasn't sure.

Ahri: If Xayah were here, she would tell me to go for it and just kiss him. "Whatever is his reaction, will be your answer" *sigh* I wish things were that easy...

From a spark of light then, a small multi-tailed fox appeared next to her, and immediately floated right in front of her face.

Kiko grabbed Ahri's cheeks with his little paws and gave her a serious look. She had been feeling troubled lately, and her medium hadn't showed up that often as a result. Being a Star Guardian required her to remain true to herself in a way, the further you moved from your own self, the weaker your connection with your medium and starlight abilities became.

Ahri: What can we do then? Just go in there and tell him everything?

Kiko just nodded at her with a determined face.

Ahri: What? Just like that? I walk inside of his bedroom and just confess everything in the middle of the night?

The little fox then just shrugged it off, as if it wasn't a big deal. Ahri just got red with embarrassment, burying her face on her knees and having all sorts of thoughts run through her mind.

And then it arrived, like a whisper to her ear. "Why not embrace desire?" "Why hide what you really feel?" "Why not just accept it?"

It wasn't unnerving, it felt like just herself genuinely questioning her doubts. However, even if she went on, and did what she wanted, there was no guarantee he would be in the same line of thought. No memories of her remained in him, and she was almost convinced that any feelings he might have had, were gone with those memories.