Where Light Meets Dark

Chapter 2 - Sooner

Quick A/N: sorry this chapter's beginning is kinda an info dump! I had to edit it from the previous version to keep it updated, but it needs editing still. Just bear with me! XD

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There was once a time when Night trusted people when they said they loved him.

But that was before one night, when he was a mere seven-year-old. His father was a kind man named Tizian, who'd raised him alone since his wife had died in childbirth. His strange, mystery career had pulled him away from home several times a week. He'd always hire a babysitter to look after his son during those times, but never quite explained where he went and what he did.

Tizian was a loving father, and he never gave any sign that he didn't love him. Which made the betrayal all the more painful.

One night, out of nowhere, Tizian had woken him up in the middle of the night, carried him half-asleep to the car, and driven to the orphanage, the whole time insisting they couldn't be together anymore. The closest thing to a hint that he could remember was his father saying, "You're not safe with me anymore." But that was the gist of their entire emotional argument those last minutes, before his father had given him a black rock and a note that he could barely read, then left him at the doorstep of the orphanage and driven away, never to be seen again.

It should've stopped there. But it only got worse.

The adults at the orphanage were kind but asked way too many hard questions. "What's your last name?" He couldn't remember. It had never seemed important. "Where are your parents?" Dead and missing, but there was no way he was going to tell them that. "Where do you live?" Some tiny living space somewhere in the city. Again, he'd never thought it was super important to know his address. "Where do you go to school?" What was that supposed to mean? His father had taught him school at home.

When he'd fumbled through all the questions and sort-of answers, the grown-ups had all looked at each other and said stuff about how they'd never be able to figure out who he was or where he came from with so little information.

Then they'd looked at him, put on big smiles, and assured him they'd take care of him there. He was given a little room with a bunkbed. He tried to read the note his father had left him, but he'd still been learning how to read. He could only figure out little words here and there, and some of them he didn't even recognize. He slowly finished learning how to read over the next few years, but obeyed his father's final commands by never telling anyone about the note or the black rock.

He'd eventually been adopted, but it had been a rough process. The first time a young couple wanted to adopt him, his initial reaction had been excitement and a kind of relief. Of course, he still wanted his father back more than anything. But maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world, living with these new parents who said they loved him.

At least, that was what he'd thought, until they sent him back to the orphanage a few months later.

And all he could think was, What did I do?!

No one had told him why, dismissing it as "too complicated for him to understand" and telling him not to worry, that he would get adopted for real soon enough.

He'd been stupid enough to believe them. And to believe that first couple when they promised to try and write him to see how he was doing. He even kept watch for the letters for months.

They never came.

Another couple, slightly older with one child of their own, tried to adopt him after another few months. They too claimed they loved him, and he forced himself to believe them. He never had any problems with their own child, so he thought everything would be alright. But then they had brought him back, too. Again, no one would really tell him why, only saying that they weren't able to handle him.