~ Chromatober 2024 ~

Day 20: Inverted/Comet

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Series: RQ

AU: Solace Abridged

Characters: Hypno

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"Come on, Sabre! We'll miss it if we don't hurry!"

"Ack! M! Stop dragging me! We still have another twenty minutes til this thing arrives, right??"

A silent snort escapes me as I stare down from my spot amongst the leaves. This non-steve. He really hadn't changed much. Still as noisy as ever. Though my apprentice- No. The new Red Leader. He insisted on dragging him places. Even when danger was running amuck.

"Geez, cheif. You can chill a bit on the grip!" A laugh accompanies the comment, followed by words I wasn't... expecting to hear. "Sorry, just a bit excited. It's been sixteen years since this comet last came around and Red Leader showed me it so..."

"Ah... A bit of a reminder of him?"

"Yeah." A sigh from below me fills the silence that was made, before it is eventually broken again. "I know I should have accepted that he's gone by now... but I just... Still see him everywhere- In the books he taught me from. In his house. The Wisdom festival. For wisdom's sake, just... I can't think of being a leader without him, you know?"

A quiet shifting and a gentler voice accompanies it. "Yeah. I know what you mean, chief. I know it was my whole fault for him getting in the middle of things and such. If I hadn't been taken away, Elemental probably wouldn't have hurt him and Professor Red probably wouldn't have turned him into... Well... Hypno."

Silence settles between the two as I feel something drip down my cheek. Without shifting around too much, I wipe it away, rolling my eye. I didn't need to...

"He was the closest thing I had to a dad."

... Wisdom's criteria-

I barely manage to grit my teeth to hold my emotions back. I didn't want anyone to know I was here. I just... Wanted to be silent. To watch from afar.

"Wait, look! Up there, Sabre! I think we can see it!"

Trailing my eye up, I look up at the starry sky through the tree-leaves. Sure enough, a black and white comet was streaking towards us across the sky. As it got closer and closer, it slowly made the world around me change color. Instead of the soft light tones from the moon, it was like an inverted black and white. I hold my breath, watching as it streaks by and illuminates everything with its unique inverted event. Yet as soon as it had arrived, it was gone.

Voices of shock and amazement sound from below me as I close my eye, relishing in the beauty that was imprinted into my swirling mind. I suppose amongst my moments of delirium, these moments of clarity and memories I could hold onto...

Meant a lot to me.