Starlight | completed

Chapter 20 | sun & moon

❝The sun never goes down, the world just turns its back on it.❞

Chapter 20 | sun & moon

It was towards the end of the day when Luce saw Ana. She was sitting on a bench and staring out at the lake, the one near the school. The sun was setting in the sky, it was a brilliant red and orange. The water in front of her was tranquil and soft.

Luce took a seat next to her and turned toward the sunset. His mind foggy. There was a hazy glow cast around them. Ana looked as if she had been fighting with herself, her eyes were glossy and bloodshot. The delicate skin around them reddened and raw, she looked as if she had been crying.

Luce didn't have it in him to ask why. He turned to the sky, and the sunset looked blue to his mystified eyes. Luce swallowed, he knew that wasn't not the right color but the sky could reflects his feelings. The sunset is a dark blue, and the water is a dark pink. And Luce absolutely hates himself.

He looks down at the water, there are some leaves at the top. Green and vibrant against the dark water. But no matter, for they sink down the water in a slow descent instead of just floating. A descent that seems endless, forever just falling. He looks at the blue sunset, and Aera arrives in his vision now.

He looks at the blue sunset, and then at Aera. They reflect each other in his eyes. She stands next to Will, her bag clutched to her side as she listens to his every word. The water reflects colors that dance on her bare skin, golden drops and amber waves. When she laughs at something Will says, her eyes are the color of the sunset. Luce wants to drown himself in them.

As they come closer, Luce can faintly catch onto Aera's voice. It's different around Will, he almost doesn't recognize it. It's too mellow, too liquid, too high, too unlike Aera. But it's her voice and the words she whispers at Will, never are to be directed at him.

It's not a cold day, there's no wind, no warm breeze. Luce doesn't feel the warm air or the cool air around him. He wants to turn his eyes to the sunset that will never be blue, because nothing in this universe can see what he feels. He thinks he should look at the sunset, but instead he just watches Aera.

Something in him yells at him to take his eyes off the girl, and look at the stunning sunset but he cannot make himself do so. At that moment a shrill noise echoes in the empty air around them, a vibrant laughter. Luce doesn't have it in him to turn around and look for the source of the sound.

The person laughs again, a shrill loud sound, it sounds even closer now. Luce could tear his eyes away from Aera and look at it. Look at what seems to make someone so happy. His chest involuntarily tightens, something in his heart aches, something tugs at him to look away. To look at the sunset that will never be blue, or the creator of that vibrant laugh and what it is that makes them laugh so happily.

But he still cannot. The shrill noise of someone's laughter fills his ears once again. The sunset changes to a lighter shade of pink, and the sky follows. Darkening in its midst. The water is more blue now, flickers of silver faintly visible when the water ripples.

It reflects on Aera's skin, azure waves and golden drops across a beautiful sky. She leans up and presses her lips to Will's. Softly kissing him. There's a buzzing in Luce's ears now, as if something is tearing him apart. A bird flies past him, it's wings flapping so quickly that it is nothing more than a steak of rich black. It blocks his vision.

Luce looks away at last, he cannot bear any more. His eyes focus on the sunset once again, not dropping to the pair who are still kissing beneath the vibrant sky. Ana to the side of him, had never once looked down at them. She'd kept her eyes on the sky, as if hoping it would all just be ever soon.

"Why don't you fight for her?" she asks a hunch to her tone, and Luce can't help think she's nothing like what he thought at first. He can see himself in her, all that hopeless longing and bitterness. His eyes trail the streaks of amber in the sky, and he bitterly smiles.

"I'm tired of fighting for her, for once I want her to fight for me." He says, and at that he stands up, Ana doesn't have the heart to reply to him. Gathering his books and his bag, he walks away once again. He thinks to himself that at times it's hard to turn the page when you know someone isn't in the next chapter, but the story must always go on.

And when he walks away Ana thinks how scary it is that his heart never made a single sound when it broke. But when Luce smiles at the sky still enchanted by the world around him. She thinks of the sun, it is alone in the world. The sun is alone, but it still shines. The sun never goes down, the world just turns its back on it. The sun never stops shining.

She thinks she could go and help him feel better, but then smiles wistfully. His broken heart is the same as broken glass, it it better to leave it broken than hurt yourself trying to fix it. And as she watches Will bend down to kiss Aera again, she thinks of how terrified she is to lose Will. But just for once she wants someone else to be scared of losing her.

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Aera giggles mystified as she slugs a arm around Will, her eyes are joyous as he drops her off at her house. The moon twinkles overhead, the sun may have watched all day long, but the moon knew all her secrets. And she thought to herself she loved Will, that was her secret.

She loved the man who would write her secret love letters, told her beautiful lies that she could never believe. But ones she would still clutch to her chest at night. She loved the author of the letters, and she loved Will because he wrote those words.

He wrote them for her, and as he bent down to press his lips against her. His lips feeling as if they were crushed velvet, Aera reveled in the feeling that she was utterly happy. Life was the same as the piano Luce would play for her sometimes. The lighter keys were happiness, soft and sweet.

The darker ones were sadness, somber and heartbreaking. Both keys made music, but in this moment all she felt was happiness. One key rang loud, strumming on and on. As Will wrapped his arm around her tighter, muttering something about pretty she looked. All she could feel was pure joy.

Sure, there was something nagging at the back of her mind. There always was. Today it was how when Will told her he wrote those letters, he had said he was done writing them. But as she clung to Will, she smiled. It was alright, she didn't need the letters when she had the author right by her side.

And as he reached down and pressed his lips against hers once again, she thought to herself that there was nothing more in the world that she loved than happiness.

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thoughts on this chapter? it was just a filler, but i do hope everyone liked it!

also take care of yourself ~
love you all