Sunny was now seven, and Rain was four. Nowadays Rain reached the phase where she started to steal candies and stuff!
His dad was now a Master, he did his Second Nightmare with Master Roan whereas Saint Tyris was a Saint now. He was rather well known now... With a True Name.
Rainbow Walker.
He got his True Name for being lucky. That was literally what the translation was about:
He would mostly be lucky. Ofcourse, his True Name implied some other things too, like being a traveller between extremes, or a rainbow after storm, or even someone who would leave a path of slaughter...
It could also mean walking a bridge that didn't exist or a ghost being trapped inside of light, and Sunny had a gnawing suspicion that the trapped part was because he would be Fateless. There were quite a few more interpretations for it but these were the most frequent ones.
But, this life was better overall he could spend a lot of time with his family...
This life—this life made so many of his dreams come true...
He could remember his parents' names...
He could remember their faces...
Remember their smiles...
He could even see Rain's first day of school!
That was everything he ever wanted.
Desired.
'Maybe there was atleast one good thing that came from her betrayal.' he thought bitterly, spacing out.
"...ther. BROTHER!" Rain screamed, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Finally you're out of it."
Then he remembered, he owed Rain something.
He had to help her steal candies!
"I still can't believe I lost the bet." Sunny sighed, remembering the bet.
It was a bet on what would they eat for breakfast:
Pancakes or Waffles.
Infact, Sunny chose waffles fully expecting to win, seeing as everyone prefered waffles over pancakes but it just so happened that pancakes weren't made for a while...
And Rain capitalised on it, practically begging mom to make it! (#RainReign)
'Does being petty run in our family...' Sunny groaned.
Even his parents got into petty quarrels all the time!
Rain completely outplayed him.
"Still lamenting on how you lost?"
Did she pick this word up from school? Why does she know even it!
"Yeah yeah... Whatever you say." Sunny replied, looking at her.
"Uh-huh"
Sometimes being able to lie was the best thing.
"Yuh uh."
It was also nice to act as a kid for a change. So what if he matured already?
"Definetly." Rain countered, "Now let's go back to searching for those sweets."
"Sure." Sunny sighed, they were having a guest today and some of it was for the guest.
Slightly problem: Rain knew about the guests and didn't care.
'This would be a pain...'
He had to distract her for as long as possible, mom trusted him to keep it hidden from Rain!
He was the most honest person in the two worlds so he couldn't not help her.
'Well she was the one who said help me find it, never specifically when.'
If she could be petty, so could he!
Infact, he was supposed to be the Master at it.
"Yeah let's continue looking..." He muttered under his breath, looking down at his watch.
Fifteen minutes till the guest would come.
They searched for a while until the guest was five minutes away, he managed to stall for that long.
"Rain, go change I will look for it here." Sunny said, starting to open cupboards in the kitchen and looking through them.
"Is it that time already?" She sighed leaning against the wall.
"Yep."
"Fine... You'll keep looking though."
"I need to change too..." Sunny protested, closing the last drawer, "Im done here."
"Fine... But you'll look for it in your room." Rain countered.
'Perfect.' he thought, hiding a smile.
It was hidden in his room.
As soon as Rain left, Sunny looked at the refrigerator.
'I could use something cold after this...'
He opened it and saw a pack of "Guava Juice" from some company called "PureDrop".
'Perfect... Just what I need.'
Yep not coffee, but a juice no one normally cared for. A thing he developed after regressing, along with music.
His taste was electric music.
Speaking of music, his playlist switched to the next song.
"We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinkin' of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understan
Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down"
The music started.
It was a dance pop, not exactly Electric but close enough.
'This song truly is good... Come to think of it, can I lie using song lyrics?'
That was one loophole he could maybe use, but he would have to test it to know for sure. Just as the thought finished, he heard a melodic ring.
RING
The doorbell rung, someone was standing besides it.
'Could it be the guest?'
He walked towards the door, ready to open it...
"Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it"
The music continued.
'Fuck.'
Now whoever was outside would know he was here... And if they had any bad intent...
"Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it"
He saw a figure through the eyehole.
A figure he knew...
A few hours before that, Sleeper Jet just completed her Nightmare in a police station.
A gasp escaped her lips as soon as she woke up.
She died.
Died in her Nightmare.
Her hands reached towards her face, her sharp nails almost reached her face, before she stopped.
She did survive the Nightmare... But her flaw was fatal.
Her aspect rank? It was Supreme.
But her flaw was that she was dead.
She was fucked.
Tears formed in her eyes, making her vision blurry.
'Im going to die.'
She needed to kill something...
There in front of her was a man with pale skin, black hair and onyx black eyes. There were three stars on his shoulder.
'A-an Ascended.'
Why was an Ascended here?
"Hello, I am Master Red. An Ascended. I was here to watch over your Nightmare."
'What?'
"I will skip the procedure for now, how was your Nightmare?"
How was it indeed?
"Bad." She started crying, "B-but I died..."
Master Red looked at her and blinked.
"You are alive?" He looked confused.
"N-no... I am dead. That's my flaw."
Red blinked, "I don't get you... Is that actually your flaw? And if it is, next time don't just reveal your flaw like that... Especially not if it's that fatal."
Jet shivered, "B-but how would I survive? I need essence to live and I can't regenerate it."
That was her flaw. She needed to kill for regenerating the essence.
Just to make sure they cared, she revealed her Aspect Rank.
Her Supreme aspect.
"Go take a shower... You reek of Nightmare. As for what to do... I will have to see what I can do."
And soon, she found out that she would be adopted.
Adopted.
She would have a family again!
'B-but what if they want to use me? He seems nice... but what if?'
It came up after her Supreme Aspect.
"No, it's not that." Master Red laughed, "I have a son and a daughter."
"How did you know what I was thinking?" She asked with raised eyebrows, "Did you intend to use me?"
"No it was written all over your face." He laughed, "I am from the outskirts too... And so are they. My son was three when we left, and my daughter newly born."
She paused, and her breath caught.
'Another person who survived from the outskirts? Like me?'
"I was almost scammed to work a lot, so it's likely they would try the same with you." He said in a sad tone, looking down at his palms as he opened and closed them.
"That's life for us." He continued, "We aren't exactly educated well."
And just like that, she eventually agreed. She would go to the Accademy soon after meeting them, signing the papers after that.
Red told her to just ring the bell, and his son would answer the door.
She stood outside, and took a deep breath. She could hear the sound of some music playing.
"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye"
She hesitated before ringing the bell.
RING
And then she waited...
Sunny saw a figure through the eyehole.
A figure he knew.
Master Jet.
Or rather... Not a Master right now.
"And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you"
The music blurred in the background, and a few seconds passed.
Sunny was remembering the last moments they shared before he regressed...
And now she wouldn't remember it.
Sunny hesitated before finally opening the door.
"Sunny, who is it?" Rain asked, just coming descending the stairs.
"It's the guest..."
"Hi, I am Sleeper Jet." She introduced herself, "I might be your sister soon if I survive the Dream Realm."
Rain looked at her, and jumped excitedly, rushing towards her for a hug.
"Don't worry, you will survive." Rain cheered, "Dad will help you."
This brought a smile to both, Sunny and Jet.
"Don't worry, you will survive." Sunny said, making sure she knew they believed in her.
'She is so different from how I knew her...' he thought looking at her innocent eyes, 'Nothing like the one I knew.'
He didn't know what to feel about this.
As much as he missed the old her, she was innocent.
Naive.
'The Nightmares and Dream Realm truly changes people...' he thought, feeling a little bad for her.
'Maybe Neph was right about this one thing...'
They had to destroy the Nightmares.
'Neph...'
He wanted to meet her again.
This life, his parents, Rain, and everyone else—they gave him hope.
The poison he hated more than anything.
The poison—the poison that tortured him.
The only one [Blood Weave] couldn't deal with.
He hoped Nephis would do things right if she had a second chance...
That was why he gave it to her, but it was mainly so that Rain could survive.
He was tempted to go back with Master Jet and let her take care of the gate if he was left behind...
But what if an Unholy Titan entered a gate besides her?
What if some threat appeared that they couldn't handle?
Neph was more likely to take care of those... She had a Divine Aspect—just like him.
She, too... Wasn't a proper human.
Author's Note: the usual, 10 comments, and 8 hearts on the discord thread. Let's add 3 reviews XD
Anyways I wrote this chapter before that chapter of Is This Love? So technically this doesn't count as the last time