Reconciliation

Sunny would be discharged in a few minutes. His injuries had almost healed, his body nearly as good as new. The past few days had been... uneventful. 

Who could have guessed lying all day on a bed, consuming free food, and absorbing academic lessons like a sponge didn't suit Sunny at all?

Standing by the window, he stared outside at the fading stretch of darkness before twilight claimed the sky.

'So... she didn't come in the end.'

A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

Sunny had half-expected it. Half-hoped otherwise.

Even Cassie had dropped by once—though only out of obligation. A brief visit, a few polite words, and then she was gone.

Nephis, on the other hand, hadn't come at all.

Maybe she truly didn't care at all. Not that he blamed her. 

From her perspective, there were plenty of reasons to distance herself from him. The tiny possibility that she considered him an assassin, an enemy to be wary of, a threat to avoid grew with each day. The feeling of guilt and regret that he could have avoided it gnawed at his heart.

...Still, it stung.

After everything that had happened—their spar that night, the way she smiled while enjoying their fight, the feeling that they had shared something beyond what words could convey...

Had it all been in his head?

His hands clenched into fists.

Perhaps he had been deluding himself, thinking he had left even the smallest mark on her. The Nephis in his mind was not the real Nephis. She had no memories of him. No reason to care. She might have already dismissed him as irrelevant even. In this cruel reality, his feelings for her were painfully one-sided. 

That thought hurt more than a blade ever could. 

Sunny grimaced. 

'Just what the hell am I supposed to do now.' 

The door creaked. He turned, his heart lurched for a fraction of a second.

Had she come after all? Just in time—

Of course not.

It was only a nurse, here to finish the last of his discharge paperwork.

Sunny exhaled, did what was necessary, and left the infirmary behind. He then made a beeline for the breakfast area. 

His first experience in a hospital... and, probably, his last, came to an end. He was certain he wouldn't miss it.

As he stepped into the dining hall, the whispers started. Eyes turned toward him. Some curious, others wary. But no one approached him. 

Something about his posture, his expression, must have made it clear—he wanted to be left alone.

Ignoring the stares, Sunny grabbed a tray and filled it with food. Then, he made his way toward his usual spot.

Cassie was already there. She sat quietly, waiting for her assistant to bring her food. Her head was turned slightly downward, and she was lost in thought.

Sunny spared her a glance. Then, without a word, he sat down on the opposite side of the bench.

He didn't know what Cassie thought of him.

She hadn't been there to witness it, but the entire academy had undoubtedly heard about his so-called 'fight' with Nephis by now. First, he had shattered all expectations at the punching machine. Then, he had shattered them again when he stepped into the ring—only to be obliterated in the very first exchange.

Spell knows what kind of image people had of him now. Not that he cared. 

The only person whose perception of him mattered was Nephis.

...And probably Cassie.

A voice broke through his thoughts.

"How are you feeling?"

Sunny blinked.

It took him a moment to realize Cassie was speaking to him. He hadn't expected her to start a conversation, but in hindsight, it made sense.

He shrugged.

"I've been better. I've been worse."

Cassie smiled faintly, as if satisfied with the answer. Her assistant arrived at that moment, setting down a tray before her. Cassie turned her attention to her food. 

Sunny exhaled softly.

By now, he had come to terms with his feelings towards the blind girl. 

Sure, the hatred was still there—festering in the darkest corners of his heart. That much couldn't be ignored. But he didn't need to build their relationship around it.

More importantly... he didn't want to.

They had fought side by side through the Second Nightmare. Then, through the Third. They had been allies—on good terms, even. Cassie had risked her life more than once for the cohort. And though she kept her secrets, though she was reserved and difficult to read, Sunny would be the first to admit—she would never betray them.

Not for anyone else.

He would never trust her with his secret. But he trusted her with his life. Even back then, in the hell of the forgotten shore, she wouldn't have betrayed him for anyone else. 

Only for Nephis.

That much was an undeniable fact.

And without her... without her guidance, without her insight, he and Nephis wouldn't have even made it to the Dark City. They would have perished in the Labyrinth long before.

What they had, the bond they had built—it was real.

And he didn't want to lose it. 

He couldn't.

He wanted to continue what they had formed at the end of the Third Nightmare.

...Pain.

A sudden, unbearable agony tore through his skull.

His vision blurred. His breath hitched.

A sickening nausea twisted in his gut, making him feel unsteady—like something inside him was being rejected by the world itself... Maybe his very soul.

'End of my Third Nightmare?'

His thoughts stuttered.

'What... how...?'

And then—

Nothing.

The pain vanished as suddenly as it had come. 

The nausea, the suffocating wrongness—it was gone. As if it had never existed.

Sunny let out a breath, rolling his shoulder absentmindedly. He had already forgotten the agony that had nearly split his head open mere seconds ago, as if it never happened. 

As he was thinking...

He would never trust Cassie with his secret, but he trusted her with his life. She would never betray him for anyone else—anyone but Nephis.

And that...

That was something he had come to accept.

He wanted to continue it, the relationship that they had. 

So, he reluctantly called out to her, tapping his spoon gently against the plate so as not to startle her.

"...Thanks for visiting me in the hospital," he said after a moment. "It meant something."

Cassie's head tilted slightly. Now it was her turn to look at him in surprise. Or at least pretend to.

She couldn't actually look at him.

She was blind.

But it hadn't been long since she attained her flaw, and old habits died hard. She still acted on reflex sometimes—turning toward voices, shifting her gaze as if following movement. Willingly, even.

So people wouldn't get even more creeped out by her lack of sight.

"Oh, it was nothing," she said lightly. "I was just fulfilling my obligation."

Sunny smiled.

At least she was honest. He wouldn't have liked it if she said something she didn't mean.

"Still," he mused, "it was more than I expected from someone else."

Cassie lingered for a moment before asking, "Who else were you expecting to visit you?"

Sunny shook his head. 

"Oh, no one. Just... the person who sent me there in the first place, maybe?"

Cassie frowned slightly.

"You mean Changing Star? Didn't she meet you already?"

Sunny scoffed.

"I would have remembered if she did, didn't I?"

Cassie remained silent longer this time. When she finally spoke, her words made Sunny freeze.

"...But I she went to the hospital ward every day after class."

What? 

Sunny opened his mouth, then closed it. 

That... didn't make sense. But Cassie had no reason to lie.

Before he could respond, the door to the dining hall opened. A familiar figure entered.

Nephis walked in with measured steps—calm, composed, betraying no urgency. And yet, there was something in the way she moved. As if she was in a hurry, but reluctant to show it.

All around them, heads turned.

She ignored the stares. Picked up a tray. Filled it. 

Sunny watched her curiously, his mind brimming with questions.

Should he get up and confront her directly? Should he wait for her to settle down? Let her eat first?

Before he could decide, Nephis made her choice for him.

She walked toward him.

...and sat down.

Right in front of him.

Sunny blinked.

That was unexpected.

She had made a habit of keeping to herself, avoiding other groups. But why here, of all places? There were plenty of empty seats. Plenty of places where no one would bother her.

It didn't make sense.

Unless—

She considered him a threat and wanted to analyze him? 

Keep your friends close... and your enemies closer.

'Or is she giving me a chance to explain myself?'

A tiny ember of hope flickered in his chest. 

Perhaps it wasn't too late. Perhaps their relationship wasn't beyond repair just yet.

Sunny stared at her, trying to decipher the meaning behind her actions. Nephis met his gaze, her silver eyes unreadable. 

There was something in her eyes, an emotion he couldn't quite place.

Between him, the blind girl, and the silent princess, the air grew heavier. Tense. Suffocating.

All three of them wanted to say something.

And yet—

No one did.

Finally, Sunny decided to break the silence. If there was even the slightest chance, he wanted to take it. He wanted to apologize.

"I am-"

"I am sorry!"

Before he could finish, Nephis spoke.

Sunny froze.

Had he heard that right?

"...What did you say?"

Nephis held his gaze for a moment before lowering her eyes slightly. Was she embarassed?

"I didn't mean to hurt you so badly."

Sunny stared at her.

"You... didn't mean to hurt me? What?"

Nephis shook her head, as if unsure of how to explain.

"It... was an accident. I used a little bit of my Aspect. By mistake."

Sunny narrowed his eyes, glancing at Cassie instinctively—searching for confirmation that she had heard the same thing.

Cassie's expression shifted. First, a flicker of realization. Then, something else—something more uncertain. As if the missing piece of a puzzle had appeared for a second, only to slip through her fingers before she could place it.

Sunny clenched his jaw.

No. No, that didn't make sense at all.

What did she mean she used her Aspect... a little? And by mistake?

Her Aspect—those radiant flames—functioned similarly to his shadows, with two crucial differences.

First, they could heal. Which was absurd in itself. It was a cheat, even!

The second difference was less significant most of the time but explained her strange wording. Unlike his shadows, which were whole entities, her flames could be split into any ratio. She wasn't restricted to neat, even numbers. She could augment herself by half, by a third, or by any other fraction really. 

That explained how she could have used a little bit of her Aspect.

But that wasn't the most shocking part.

"How can you use your Aspect by mistake?"

His voice was sharper than he intended.

If it had been a random Sleeper struggling to control their powers, he could have accepted it. But her?

She was precise. Disciplined. And on top of that, she had suspected him of being an assassin. It wasn't like her to be careless against someone she considered a threat.

So... how?

Nephis' head lowered further.

Sunny swore he saw the faintest shade of pink on her cheeks.

Just how embarrassed is she about it?

"It just... happened." She sighed. Then, seeing his glare unwavering, not satisfied with her reply, she continued. 

"You went all out on the punching machine," she said. "Revealed your Aspect after hiding it from the Academy's interviewer. And then, you stared at me."

She paused. 

A sharp glint flickered in her silver eyes for just a moment.

"You were challenging me, weren't you?" she asked softly. "Saying you wanted to fight without holding back."

She exhaled.

"I... didn't want to back down from your challenge."

Sunny blinked.

For a moment, he felt nothing.

Then—

Shock.

Stupefaction.

And then, something else. Something dangerous.

He felt Elated.

'So... she hadn't been angry with me or considered me an assassin? That had all been in my head?'

His first instinct was to believe her, jump up happily and celebrate. 

He would probably have, if he blindly followed his heart, his instinct. But humans had intelligence for a reason. 

Yes, her reason could be true. Yes, it was even possible she didn't see him as a threat. But there was no way she would come clean this easily.

Nephis had no reason to trust him.

Unlike him...

She felt nothing for him.

There was a deeper layer to this.

"I find it hard to believe that you nearly—ahem—killed me just for that reason." Sunny smiled, shaking his head.

"I heard about your fight with Caster," he continued. "You preferred losing to him over using your Aspect. And don't tell me you did use it. I've seen your talent firsthand."

His voice dropped slightly.

"In our duel... you held your ground against me with pure skill."

He scoffed.

"You would have decimated him with physical augmentation. But you didn't. You've clearly been keeping your Aspect under wraps. So why, then, would you so willingly use it just because I provoked you?"

Nephis lingered, studying him intently.

Calculating.

Sunny recognized the look—she was deciding how much she could afford to reveal.

He glanced at Cassie.

The blind girl was tense, turning her head slightly between them, as if weighing whether she should excuse herself from what was clearly a 'private' conversation. But neither he nor Nephis seemed to mind her presence.

Nephis finally spoke.

"You're right," she admitted. "I didn't really plan to."

She hesitated.

"Back then, in the ring, when you raised your hand toward me... I just moved."

She lowered her eyes to her plate.

"It was instinct."

She lingered for a moment.

"I'm sorry if that doesn't answer your question."

Sunny exhaled slowly.

'Of course it doesn't. You basically just said, Oops, my leg slipped! Please forgive me.'

His mind raced, sifting through possibilities.

Had she already confirmed him to be an assassin? Was she pretending to reveal her Aspect in order to bait out information about his?

'She must have concluded that I don't intend to harm her, at least in the waking world. If I did, I would have done it that night—when we were alone.'

Was she trying to gain his trust, so that, if they ended up in the same region of the dream realm, she could exploit it?

Under the guise of 'revealing' her Aspect—while carefully hiding the most important part, the healing—was she laying the groundwork for a future trap?

Then, when the time was right... she'd finish him off for good.

If he were in her place, that's exactly what he would do.

Sunny sighed internally.

There was a time and place for everything, but not now. 

His unreasonable paranoia had saved his life more times than he could count.

But now...

Now, it would ruin him.

The Nephis he knew had learned the art of deception from him. But the person in front of him hadn't... yet. She could have truly believed him to be an ally and decided it was safe to reveal her Aspect to him.

The alternative was too unlikely, too painful to accept.

Sunny studied her face once more.

As their eyes met, something flickered in her gaze. Fleeting. Subtle. 

Not calculation. Not the cold, measured intent of someone plotting his demise.

Something else.

Could she... feel the same way?

Maybe. Maybe not. 

Either way, Sunny wanted to believe it. And, for the first time in a long while, he was going to.

A weight he hadn't even realized he was carrying lifted from his shoulders. Something dark and suffocating uncoiled from his chest.

He felt lighter. Relieved. 

He felt Alive. 

He felt happy, to be alive.

Nephis shifted slightly. Her eyes lingered on him, hesitating. She still hadn't touched her food. It was as if she was waiting—for what, exactly, Sunny wasn't sure.

Permission? Forgiveness?

The silence stretched too long.

Finally, she exhaled and rose to her feet.

"I understand if you'd rather stay away from me."

Her voice was quiet, controlled.

But there was something underneath. Her words almost felt heavy.

Almost.

It was as if she expected him to agree. And that expectation—it hurt her at least on some level, even if just a little.

He chuckled internally.

Before she could step away, he reached out and caught her wrist.

"No."

His grip was firm.

"Stay."

A flicker of shock crossed Nephis' face. Her silver eyes widened, searching his.

For a moment, she hesitated.

Then, without much resistance, she allowed herself to be pulled back into her seat.

Cassie turned her head slightly, no doubt feeling the tension between them. Nephis, meanwhile, looked as though she wanted to say something. But no words came.

The silence was thick. Stifling, even.

Then, Sunny smirked.

He leaned back, exhaling a short chuckle.

"Let me tell you about the time I killed an Awakened Tyrant. I just spat, and the bastard was ripped to shreds!"

AN: Do share your thoughts in the comments. It motivates me to write faster :)