My Sunshine ~ Dislyte

Chapter 11: Glass Shattering Silence

"You are my sunshine,

"My only sunshine,

"You make me happy,

"When skies are gray,

"You'll never know, dear,

"How much I love you..."

Yuuhime couldn't continue before she began to weep.

"Mama?" Ace asked. He lay in his bed, his mother sitting on the edge of his bed. He climbed out of his sheets and crawled his way to her, looking up at her teary face.

"Do you miss dad again?"

Yuuhime was silent, looking down at Ace. Then she smiled, wiping her eyes and caressing Ace's face.

"I'm ok," she lied, "sometimes we just need to cry."

"Oh, ok." Ace said, then crawled back under his sheets.

"Goodnight, Ace." She said, kissing his forehead before leaving.

Ace silently waited before opening his mouth.

"...please don't take, my sunshine, away."

***

Eyes followed Yuuhime as she walked down the hallways. It was like she was a cracked vase just waiting for the wind to break it.

And yet, everyone tried to act normal. They all knew she hates being treated like a porcelain doll.

"How you feeling, Yuuhime?" Leora asked, rubbing Yuuhime's hand.

"I'm fine." She said. "I just want Tang Xuan and Amon to be ok."

"Xuan's taking a lot longer than you...wonder why."

"He's still alive," Yuuhime let out a sigh, "that's all that matters to me."

Leora nodded, "He's a strong guy. He'll come around."

A little more small talk later, Raven walked over and sat down next to them.

"Raven!" Leora said.

"Any news on Amon?" Yuuhime quickly asked.

"Not yet," Raven said, "but I have some good news."

She held out a box. Yuuhime tilted her head, so Raven opened it up and presented a glass eyeball. Its iris was painted orange and magenta, like Xuan and Ace's.

"It's for Ace," Raven explained, "I fitted it just for him and Arcana painted it."

"Oh, yes," Yuuhime remembered Ace saying he didn't want an eyepatch, "Thank you so much, he'll love it."

"Still can't believe he doesn't want one." Raven said, a smile on her face as she pointed to her eyepatch.

"Don't take it too hard," Leora laughed, "He's just a kid."

Raven giggled as Yuuhime looked away and stood up.

"I'm going to go find Ace." She said as she walked away. As soon as she was out of sight, Raven leaned in to Leora and whispered.

"Tang Xuan isn't getting any better."

"Yeah, I know. Why are you telling me this?"

"We're making a fundraiser for Yuuhime and Ace when he's inevitably gone. Can you help us keep Yuuhime in the dark? She won't be happy if she found out."

Leora nodded and got up. "I'll make sure her free time is full."

"Thank you."

Leora nodded again. "Are you sure there's nothing we can do?"

"We've done all we can. This is all that's left."

***

Ace lay on Xuan's arm. It hardly shook from his weight, the only moving part of his body being his breathing lungs pushing his chest.

Ace was terrified to move. It was as if he did, his father would disappear.

Yuuhime peeked in. She held a plastic container, probably holding leftovers. Ace looked up but didn't move, just watching his mother slowly make her way over and open the container, pulling out two forks and holding one out to him.

"Get up, Ace. It's time to eat."

Ace reluctantly obeyed and let out a sigh as he sat up and took the fork.

"It's from Li Guang," Yuuhime explained, "she said it was a Tangton specialty."

"I never had Tangton food." Ace said, looking awkwardly at the food.

"Don't make that face, Ace. You'll like it."

Yuuhime knew that Ace was eating less. Admittedly, so was she. It was hard to do basic tasks everyday when she couldn't keep Xuan's bright smile and warm touch out of her head.

But she knew that this wasn't just about her anymore. Ace was looking to her for comfort in his confusion and hurt, so she forced herself to be a good example so he could be at least healthy.

"I'll taste it first," Yuuhime said as she poked her fork into the container, "mmm, it's so yummy, right up your alley."

Ace slowly stuck his fork into the container and wiggled it around, getting only the pieces he thought looked good. Once the fork was in his mouth, his shoulders slumped down in relaxation as a small smile curled around the fork.

"What did I tell you?" Yuuhime said, gently wiggling her fork as she picked more food up.

"You're the smartest mama." Ace said and snuggled into her arm.

"You're the sweetest boy." She returned, extending an arm to rub his back while she ate.

Soon, the container was empty. Yuuhime placed the forks into it and placed it onto a nearby table. She looked at Xuan and wondered if he liked it, the Tangton specialty.

"Ace," she said, looking around for the small child, "Raven got you a gift."

His eyes widened and he rushed to her, watching curiously as she pulled out a small box. Opening it, he gasped as she pulled out the glass eye.

"You still have to protect your eye socket, and I've heard that glass eyes help." Yuuhime explained. Ace was enamored by the glass eyeball, staring at it in awe at how much it looked like his real eye.

"Can you help me put it in?"

"Yes, I can now," She said as she knelt down in front of him, "But if you want to use a glass eye instead of an eyepatch, you'll have to learn yourself."

Ace nodded, holding out the eye to her. She brushed the hair out of his eye and removed the bandage that was there to protect the socket and carefully talked him through the process of putting it in. She had luckily went to the medical chiefs for help beforehand to make sure she knew how to do it, for without them, she would have been completely lost.

"There." She said, stepping back and pointing to the bathroom. "Go check yourself out, now."

Ace ran to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. While it was clear that it was fake, he couldn't help but shake with joy.

"Mama! Look at me!" She ran back out to her and hugged her legs.

"You like it? It's not uncomfortable or anything?"

"No! I wanna keep it in forever!"

"Oh, you can't do that. You take it out when you're sleeping, and-"

Ace giggled, not listening as he walked over to Xuan, pointing to his new eye.

"I'll tell you all about my eye when you're awake, dad!" He said, pressing into his chest. A pause led to Ace beginning to tear up, but he hid his face from Yuuhime.

"I have work, Ace," Yuuhime said softly, "remember, if you need anything, get a doctor."

And then she left. Ace curled his toes in and clutched Xuan, blinking away his tears.

'You should go show everyone your glass eye! They'll love it.'

That's what he would have said. But Ace couldn't move until Ye Suhua came in and gave his back a pat.