Of Love and Death.

The Past Chapter 12: Our Worlds Collide (Fight to Survive...) Pt. 1

Okay, so there is violence and danger and destruction in the form of a riot. We also see Cold right after Mind broke up with her, and that's just a train wreck of a toxic relationship blowout. Also there is prejudice between the shadows and the suns very prevalent in this chapter. 

    Fire opened his door slowly. He wasn't entirely certain if someone was inside or not, a certain  other Nexus Force would occasionally just sit on his bed waiting for him. Supposedly he was hard to get a hold of or something. Which made some level of sense. A lot of his free time for a good while now had been spent on the asteroid with Mind. Although he wasn't going to say his reputation was entirely deserved.

     Thankfully, the whitewashed bedroom was empty despite Fire's fears. Everything was as he'd left it. His windows were closed for privacy, his desk was in the corner. All of his fire tapestries were still hanging on the walls. Including that annoying gray and blue one that he'd never actually finished. His bed was still in the center of the room, but without any annoying water-themed forces resting on it.

     Quickly, Fire strode through the doorway, anxious to get out of the hallways. It had been a highly nerve racking journey through the Sun's Orb. He'd led Mind through all of the back alleys and hidden passageways he knew about in the hopes of avoiding every living soul. Against all odd, it had worked too. 

     Once Fire was inside, he turned around to watch Mind. Even given the circumstances, the sun was curious as to what his friend thought of his room. The horned shadow looked around. Clearly a bit nervous and a bit shy, but also curious. The obvious expressions to be feeling right now.

     There was also obvious relief on Mind's face. Maybe at being the farthest from Cold he'd ever been, or at just making it through the Orb without incident. Either way, Fire was glad to see some level of joy in his friend/crush/hopefully soon to be boyfriend.

     For a short while, Fire sat on his bed while Mind paced. He couldn't think of anything to say to the shadow, and apparently the feeling was mutual. The horned force didn't really say anything as he looked around. Which was okay with Fire. He was never one for too many words, and he was content to watch the shadow walk around.

     It was weird seeing Mind in the light. Even though the universe did have pinpricks of light here and there, it was still mostly dark. So seeing every bit of Fire's crush gleam and shine was a new experience. Even the star that they had met at that second time hadn't come close to the sheer level of light that the Orb could put out.

     Although it was definitely weird, it could have been worse. Mind looked good in any lighting, even if Fire would admit that the darkness suited him better. At least he seemed to have warmed up to the Sun's Orb a bit. No longer did he seem quite so tense. Although that could have just been the fact that they weren't wandering around in broad light just begging for a sun to see the darkness of Fire's crush's eyes.

     Mind was finally not squinting, so that was a plus. When he and Fire had first gotten close to the Sun's Orb, the light had assaulted his eyes. Even the star that he had seen so long ago had not been this bright. It was like all of the light in the universe was emanating from the Orb. How did the suns stand this place? Did they just burn their eyes out to the point that they couldn't see the absolute brightness anymore?

     Then there was the inside of the Orb. Even though Mind knew that the layout was the same as his home, it was different. There was just white, barely broken up, monotony. The Shadow's Orb was very black. But not as black as this was white! Yes, Mind knew that that was simply very much bias to having lived in the Shadow's Orb his whole life so it wasn't going to seem strange to him, but still! It was very different!

     The walk to get to Fire's home had been nerve-wracking. Why did the Nexus Forces' have to live right near the center again? Couldn't they have ended up somewhere more convenient? Like say the outermost layer. Thank goodness Mind's friend had been able to lead him along the less traveled paths. Still, they'd encountered exactly five suns. Somehow, none of them had paid Mind enough attention to see that his eyes were the exact opposite of their own.

     Not that it would matter in the long run. After all, the plan was to introduce Mind to Light before things could go wrong. But still, doing it on their own terms instead of some random person announcing it to the big guy would probably go over a bit better. Hopefully.

     However, Mind and Fire had made it. Against all odds they were safe inside the latter's room. Which was also bright and white. Surprisingly sparsely decorated too. Mind wasn't quite certain what he'd been expecting, but not this. More color, like Fire's hair. Instead the only thing that stood out in the place were the beautiful tapestries that seemed to be made out of flame hanging on the walls.

     Then again, it made sense that Fire's room would be more sparsely decorated. The sun had never stood out as one for impractical things, more one to like things neat and orderly. So he wouldn't like too much stuff that could get cluttered.

      For a little while, Mind just walked around the room, purposely not looking at Fire. It felt far too awkward for some reason. Simply what do you say? How did you make small talk with the person who'd invited you into his home for the first time, who you'd kissed and then admitted that you didn't want to date yet. And then you had agreed to run away with while waiting to date them and fleeing from your ex?

     Wow, this was kind of a strange situation when Mind put it like that.

     Eventually, the silence got too much for even Fire. He had to say something, his curiosity was getting the better of him. What was Mind thinking about? Did he like Fire's room, was he doing okay being so far from home? Did he want to meet any of the other suns anytime soon? "So," Fire began, "What do you think? Is it messy?"

     Even as the words left his mouth, Fire was aware that they were a hopeless ploy at acting normal when the situation was anything but normal. However, he couldn't tiptoe around Mind and talk about nothing but Cold forever. That was a disaster. So maybe trying to claw back normal conversation would work to claw back calm.

     The blue shadow scratched the back of his head. It's...very white? Bright? Mind commented. Fire laughed, reminded again that this was Mind's first time in the Sun's Orb. It certainly had been jarring when Fire first went to Dark's domain. He remembered how claustrophobic he'd been, the ceiling and floors had seemed to press in on him and the darkness went on forever. It had been a different sort of darkness than in dspace.

     Just as Fire was about to open his mouth to reply, Mind's eyes widened. Before Fire had time to ask what was up, the mind-reader had darted across the room, and hid behind Fire's bed. "What's u-" Fire began to ask, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Ah, so that was it. The shadow had realized someone was coming and hid.

     Before Fire had a chance to open the door, it burst open. So it was Water who was gracing him with his presence. Because of course it was. The sun was standing in Fire's doorway, having opened the door without any actual consent to enter. With him was Water's SO, Art. Who he had brought with him. Again, without Fire's consent to enter. Not that the flaming sun was too surprised. Indeed the Nexus Force and Art randomly showed up at his door many times. This just happened to be one of the less convenient instances for it to happen. Considering that Fire was hiding a stowaway shadow behind his bed.

       Alright, time to think on the spot and hide something from the person who seemed to always be able to tell when Fire was hiding something. Couldn't be too hard, right?

      "H-hey Water. Hey Art. What are you two doing in my room?" Fire asked, making sure to emphasize the "my". Hopefully they would get the message that he did not exactly enjoy their presence right now. Not that it would work, but a guy could hope.

     Clearly something was up. Water had a smirk in his eyes, the kind that usually appeared right before he did something that Fire would be annoyed by. Not that the flaming sun would ever admit that he secretly enjoyed Water's antics. He had a reputation after all. Also he was never letting his friend win the informal war about the aquatic sun breaking the other's stoicness. "We have been looking for you!" Water declared with far too much glee.

     Oh dear, how was Fire going to get out of this one?