𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭-𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬² | 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ✓

𝐕𝐈𝐈

"Ren, are you going to need a ride home?" Meloria asked as she took their dishes to the sink. She shook her head. "I can go on my own but thank you." She said with a smile and a nod. "Okay, well get home safe and I'll see you in class tomorrow. Goodnight." Meloria said before heading upstairs, leaving the two teenagers downstairs.

"You sure you don't want my mom to give you a ride? It's pitch black outside and last time I checked, you don't have any form of transportation." Tobias said making Ren laugh at his slight worrying. 

"You gotta learn not to worry so much Tobes. I'll be fine, trust me." She grabbed her backpack and headed outside as Tobias leaned against the door frame. 

"I'll see you at school tomorrow, hope your parents won't be too mad that I kept you out this late." He said but Ren shook her head. "They'll be fine. Goodnight, see you tomorrow." Ren said with a smile as she started walking down the road.

Her found her to be quite odd but he didn't mind it. He wasn't any more normal. Hell, one of his parental figures was a dead eighteen-year-old girl.

He shook his head, trust Ren's words, and went upstairs to bed.

"She seems like a nice girl," Meloria said as she leaned against his doorframe, forgetting that he left it open. "Yeah, she is." He said as he put on some random band tee he had. "How'd you two meet?" She asked, wanting to know about her son's new friend.

"She came up to me before first hour and I guess I'm stuck with her now." He said jokingly making his mother chuckle slightly. "Yeah, well, those are the best ones. Your dad was like that with me too. He just showed up one day and I couldn't get rid of him no matter how hard I tried." She said thinking back at her times with her lover.

"I doubt I'd be able to get rid of her, even if I wanted to." He said with a laugh as he took a seat in front of a blank canvas. 

"You gonna paint right now? You have school tomorrow." She asked with a slight yawn. He shrugged as he twirled a pencil in between his fingers, not taking his eyes off the canvas. "I don't know, maybe just a quick sketch so I can get some sleep." She nodded before waking in a placing a kiss on top of his head.

"Alright, well, don't go to sleep too late, goodnight." She said before leaving, closing the door behind her, leaving him to his thoughts and a canvas.

He started drawing random lines, letting go, and seeing what happens. That's how most of his art pieces happen.

After a few minutes, he stood up and stared at the sketch he had unconsciously drawn. It felt darker than what he usually drew. Almost morbid, sorrowful.

It was a small room with a single bed against a wall. A girl laying on the bed, her death bed, with three figures around her. One was sitting, holding her hand, and the other two were standing trying their hardest not to cry.

Even though it was just a bunch of lines with no shading or color, he could see it all. From the pale coldness of their skin to the dimmed stars in her eyes as she looked at them. Begging them to let her go.

He put his pencil down before turning all the lights and getting into bed. 

He stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars he had plastered up there. He let his mind wander to the sketch. He had never drawn something like that before. He knew eventually his art would take a somewhat dark turn but he never thought it'd feel so... depressing. 

He closed his eyes with a deep breath, just wanting to back to that cliff with Lucine.

"Look who finally showed up." A voice said from behind him. He turned around with a smile.

"Sorry, I just had to sketch something real quick, or else I wouldn't be able to sleep." He explained to her as he took a seat on a large rock, looking out to the familiar scenery. She shook her head. "It's okay kid, I'm just messing with you." She said with a chuckle.

He looked at her for a second, remembering the painting from his art class. How every brush stroke was filled with love and longing. 

"I met your niece and sister-in-law today." He said abruptly as he looked away from her. She looked at him with wide eyes before clearing her through and looking back out to the ocean.

"And? How are they?" He shrugged. "Ren's nice, we're friends now and Mrs. Cullen, Alice, is my art teacher. She has a big painted portrait of you hanging in her classroom." He said as he looked back at her. He could see her eyes glossing over at the thought of her family being so close.

"Portrait? Of me?" She asked surprised as he nodded. "Yeah, I asked her about it and she said your lover painted it. Said she paints you a lot since you passed." He said, his facial expression not changing. "I miss her. I miss them." She said after a moment of silence.

"I met your dad a while ago too. He misses you a lot." He said, watching a tear stream down her face.

They stayed quiet for a while as Lucine processed everything. They watched the water hit against the rocks below them and the birds flying high above everything.

"Have you met anyone else?" She questioned but he shook his head. "No, but Ren might take me to meet them soon." He asked making her nod. "Promise me something?" She asked him.

"promise you won't tell them anything? Promise that you won't tell them that you know about me. I don't want them to think that there's a way for me to come back." He nodded. "I wasn't planning on telling them anyway. I don't want to get their hopes up." He said as Lucine let out a breath.

"Tell me about them when you see them?" She asked as everything started becoming bright. He was waking up.

He nodded. "Don't worry. I'll tell you everything." He said with a smile before waking up back in his room the next morning.