Of Love and Death.

The Past Chapter 18: The Storm Pt. 4

Planet Earth was beautiful.

It was wet and rainy. It was warm and made of rocks. It was barren, devoid of anything except for the Forces. It was cold. But not in that pervasive way that Cold was cold. It was just damp. Damp with a wind that blew against your skin, causing you to prickle a little bit. Annoying, unpleasant. But Fire didn't fully hate it. There was something about the rain that made everything feel small. Close together and tight knit.

Close in how everyone was both mildly annoyed and happy. The rain was everywhere and in everything. Only the fires that Fire himself made and maintained kept burning. Water was happy as a lark, though. The few Forces here were dancing in it, laughing about it. Crying and moaning about their hair being flattened, about blinking it out of their eyes. Tackling each other as they tried to stay happy.

It was gray. The clouds were gray, almost black. But there was this light. This little bit of light that seeped through, coming from that giant yellow star in the center of these eight little planets. Or nine. A bit of a dispute had come up about how many of the round things around this one star - the thing that shined like the eyes of a Sun, were planets.

It was inviting, that's what it was. It was soft, it was smooth. But it wasn't uniform. The colors of the rocks differed. The puddles shined with rainbows of color. Reflecting and distorting images. The clouds were like a blanket, swaddling everyone in their mystery. Rain was beautiful. It didn't have a Force with it, it was just there for everyone to share and to love.

This place was named after a traitor. But Fire still found bits of it to be beautiful.

Right now, the flaming sun was sitting on a rock. Mind had gone to get some sleep, and he was alone with just the sound of pounding raindrops. Restlessly looking out and watching everyone. It was creepy. He felt so alone, and so seen at the same time. Like someone was watching him, always, always watching.

That feeling wasn't helped by someone walking up out of nowhere. Fire started a little bit as a Shadow sat down right next to him. Like they'd known each other for eons upon eons. They were gray and blue, so, so gray and blue. With little etched in blue on their gray skin. A crystalline color that matched their hair to a T. It was Time. The one Force that Fire didn't know why they'd come. A small conspiracy theory of his was that she was with Cold, and was really just spying on all of them.

Snorting out a laugh, the Shadow shook their head. "I'm not with Cold. I'm not a mind-reader either, just know what you were thinking," they said with another chuckle, covering up their mouth as they grinned. Even though they had literally said that they knew what he was thinking. And weren't a mind reader. That was the same exact thing. She held out her hand. "Mind and I knew each other way back in the day."

Oh. Oh that made a lot more sense.. Fire shook Time's hand, and relaxed a little bit, turning to look back out at the gathered Forces. Water had created a bubble without the rain that most of them were sitting under.. No one had expected the downpour. No one had known it was coming.

For a few moments, Time was silent. It felt like she was giving Fire time to think, time to wonder. But he didn't really have much to wonder about. Not yet. He just had a feeling of dread. It had been with him since he'd heard Light declare that they would be fighting back. Since he hadn't been able to shoo Mind away from staying by his side. This was their fault. Maybe Cold would still have enacted her plan without the two of them. But it wouldn't have had this touch of vengeance to it.

Next to the Sun, Time chuckled. "Pretty soon, this whole world will be red," she grimaced with a mournful smile. Fire turned to look at her. She didn't look at him. But she stared at the scene in front of her. He knew she knew he was staring at her. It felt like Time didn't want to meet his watchful stare. "And then it will be green and blue."