Harrison was scolding Sylvester for something he clearly hadn't done, but Sylvester barely heard him. A strange tiredness had settled over him out of nowhere.
"What's the point of saying anything to you if you're only going to ignore what I say!"
"Harrieson."
"What?"
" Lend me your couch, I'm feeling a bit tired."
Harrison rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you want, you won't listen to me either way."
" Thanks"
As he lay down, a woozy heaviness crept over him. Maybe it was from all the recent gates he's doing. Whatever the reason, he fell asleep within moments.
*****
"Why"
Sylvester lowered his gaze.
He felt an unpleasant feeling returning. It was difficult to describe. It was a strange emptiness settling somewhere deep inside him, along with an ache that he couldn't quite understand.
"Did I offend you in some way? If so, please tell me. I'll fix it right away."
But, there was only silence.
He felt like someone was looking at him. Although, the angle he was in didn't help either. He couldn't quite see well from how he was positioned.
"Why won't you say anything? "
His voice shook. He pressed a hand to his chest, his eyes stinging with tears.
Why does this feel so familiar?
He frowned. Familiar? How odd. He couldn't recall ever experiencing anything quite like this. And yet… Something like this stirred in the back of his mind.
Was it a weird dream of some kind? Or perhaps something resembling a memory that belonged to someone else.
Looking around, it was dark. He was sure that there was someone else there with him. But, who? The air was cold and damp, carrying the faint smell of earth and stone. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped steadily against the ground.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
" ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️?"
His voice sounded small. He had called out a name, hadn't he? Then why couldn't he hear it? What name did he say?
He couldn't see much beyond the uneven ground beneath him, but he knew someone was there. The figure stood a short distance away from him.
The figure moved away. A faint light illuminating around him.
Sylvester tried to look up at the figure that was near him but couldn't. There was nothing stopping him from raising his head. No hand pressing against his neck, no force holding him down. And yet, every instinct in his body warned him against it.As though some forgotten part of him already knew who stood before him. And more importantly... He Knew better than to look at them in this state.
Sylvester swallowed hard. He couldn't quite explain it, but he felt as though he were standing before someone whose very existence demanded his submission.
And yet… Something about that presence was strange. There was anger. An immense, almost suffocating fury that seemed to fill the air around him. But beneath it, Sylvester sensed something else. Was it Sorrow or Disappointment? Perhaps even pity. It was difficult to tell.
How could someone feel such intense anger and yet seem so terribly saddened at the same time?
Sylvester's fingers curled nervously. He wanted to look up. To see the expression of the one standing before him. But his body refused to obey.
'...Why?' Why can't I even look at them?
For the first time, he felt as though he had stumbled into the presence of someone he had no right to question.
but then, he Hurd a low whisper like.
"uhm... I see. You can't even bring yourself to look at me, can you?"
Sylvester flinched hearing that voice, it sounded familiar but who? Whose voice was like that?
" Don't tell me you can't do something simple for me, ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️."
The name was lost to him again. Why couldn't he still hear it?
Sylvester slowly lifted his head, his eyes desperately searching for the figure's face.
But the moment he did, his heart sank.
"...Ah."
A terrible sense of dread washed over him. He shouldn't have done that. He didn't know why, but something deep inside him recoiled at his own actions. As though he'd committed an unforgivable offense, one that could never be taken back.
His breath caught in his throat. It was such a simple thing. He had only raised his head.
" Please forgive me ⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️, I won't do it again. I promise."
For a split second, he glimpsed the face.
"... Aster?"
The figure moved away. The faint light illuminating touched its features. Was that him? It couldn't be.
"Ah...! Astor!"
Relief flooded Sylvester as he hurried forward.
But Astor didn't move to meet him. Instead, he stood perfectly still.
"Astor? What are you doing here?"
No answer.
Sylvester slowed. "...Astor?"
He tilted his head looking at him confused, It looked just like Aster. Yet as familiar as the figure looked it wasn't him; he looked like a monster, like that monster he saw in that gate with Harrison. Strangely, he wasn't afraid of it. What frightened him was that it might leave without saying a word.
Something wasn't right.
Why wasn't he saying anything? Why was he standing so far away?
"Hey... Wait!"
Astor turned.
Sylvester's breath caught. "Where are you going?"
He reached out, his fingers stretching desperately toward the familiar figure.
"Astor!"
His voice echoed through the darkness.
"Wait! Don't leave me here!"
Astor stopped.
For one brief moment, Sylvester thought he might turn around.
And he did. Slowly. Almost reluctantly.
His lips parted.
"Stay."
Sylvester froze. "...What?"
"Stay here."
The words were quiet. Far too quiet.
Sylvester shook his head. "No... No, wait. Why?" He reached out again.
"Astor, I don't understand!"
"You'll be safer here."
The words were gentle. Almost painfully so.
"Safer?" Sylvester stared at him. What did he mean? Why would he be safer here, alone?
"Astor...?"
He tried to push himself up. His body refused. His legs felt unbearably heavy, and a sharp weakness spread through his limbs.
But, Astor had already turned away.
"Wait!" His voice cracked.
"ASTOR!"
He tried to follow. His legs wouldn't move.No matter how desperately he struggled, he couldn't seem to close the distance between them.
"Please...!"
His outstretched hand trembled.
"Don't leave me..."
The figure grew smaller. And smaller.
Until there was nothing left. Only darkness.
* * *
"...!"
Sylvester blinked.
The familiar room slowly returned to view. For several moments, he stood completely still.His hand was raised slightly in front of him. As though he'd been reaching for someone. He sat up looking round and he was still over Harrison's place.
...What was that?
He covered his face. What a weird dream."
"What a terrible feeling."
that feeling, It lingered even now. Sylvester pressed a hand against his chest.
...Why?
He had no recollection of ever being abandoned in such a place. Surely he would remember something like that.
Wouldn't he?
He had always remembered everything. Or at least...He'd always believed he did.
"...Plunko?"
Astor's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Sylvester slowly turned his head.
There he was. Standing before him. But never in front of him, Smiling at paxson as though nothing had happened. For a moment, Sylvester could only stare.Then, without realizing it, he glanced down at Astor's hands.
'...Those hands.'
He remembered reaching for them.He remembered how desperately he'd wanted Astor to take his hand. And how he hadn't.
"...Plunko? Are you listening?"
That name again, why did he keep calling paxon that name?
"Ah..." Plunko blinked again.
"Yes. Forgive me." He forced a small smile.
"I seem to have gotten a little distracted."
Astor chuckled. "Haha! That's rather unusual for you."
"...Indeed."
Plunko lowered his gaze and head, letting aster ruffle his hair.
"How very unusual."
But as he sat there, he felt something going within him.
Slowly, he lifted his fingers to his face..
Sylveter kept his eyes on paxon. To which Paxson ignored and instead placed his face next to aster rubbing his face to his.
"...Huh? Why do I feel so angry at him. . . All this is very strange. "
That feeling frightened him more than the dream itself.
****
" uh? W-what are you doing? You really must be tired "
he kept his smile in place, but his mind was somewhere else entirely.
Since when does he lower his head like that? So, naturally.
Plunko had always been wary of everything. Even while being half-asleep there was never a time where his gourd has been this low. He never let anyone near me or him, not before running a whole background check on them. And yet, a moment ago he had simply stood there with his gaze down. As though he trusted 'this' completely.
Astor's fingers stilled.
That isn't like him. Not since he woke up.
He had noticed it from the first moment he opened his eyes. There was no flinch, no sharp look, none of the usual stiffness. And now this strange, quiet obedience.
"...Plunko," he said carefully. "Did something happen while I was gone?"
"Hm?" Plunko looked down to him, startled, as if surfacing from deep water. "No. Why do you ask?"
"No reason."
It was a lie, and they both knew it. Astor withdrew his hand and let it fall to his side.
That was what bothered him. Plunko was stubborn and sharp, and he'd have turned the place upside down looking for him. Yet Astor had spent that whole time alone, and Plunko had never appeared. Not a sound, not a shadow.
So how did he not find me?
He turned the thought over. Either Plunko had never really searched, which didn't sound like him. Or Plunko had been there all along, close enough to see everything, and Astor had simply never noticed.
Unless I didn't feel it.
The thought sat badly in his chest.
He flexed his fingers and reached inward for the power that should have answered at once. It came, but slowly, like a limb that had fallen asleep, thin and unsteady where it should have been sharp. He'd told himself it was almost back. He'd told himself he was nearly whole again.
Almost.
If Plunko had been following him, a few steps behind the entire way, Astor would never have known.
His gaze flicked to Plunko, who was staring at his own hands with the faint, unsettled look of someone trying to remember a word.
"Mas-"
I raised my hand. "That's enough." He turned to look over the living room too see Sylvester pissed off.
'Uhm-'
It seems like the only happy one here is Harrison. At least he still acted normal, unlike these two.
Astor turned away so Plunko wouldn't see his face, and walked toward the kitchen, where Harrison was clattering around and muttering to himself.
I'm weaker than I thought. And I can't afford to let anyone find that out.
He never looked back.
If he had, he would have seen Plunko's smile slip away the moment his footsteps faded. The warmth drained from his face. His eyes, so mild a moment ago, had turned cold and unreadable, and something dark moved behind him. It was heavy and patient, and nothing like the confusion he had shown a minute before.
Plunko's hand slid slowly from his own face and curled into a fist against his knee.
" Aster, I think we should head back home soon. It's safer there."
His gaze followed Astor's back across the room, fixed and unblinking.
Is that what you think?
With out hesitation plunk answered "yes"
" . . . , I see. But."
"But?"
" I don't like being alone for too long, I'd rather stay here and be in danger than to go back to being alone."
" I could open the land so others can enter and exist as they please."
Aster still didn't look at him. Thinking about it.
"Well? Aster."
"Uhm. . ." As he thought about it he felt something approaching him. It was Sylvester, he grabbed Aster's hand out of no-where and pulled him away.
"I think we should go out to eat, what do you think?"
"Sylvester, what are you doing—" as paxon reached out to Aster Sylvester ripped a small piece of paper that teleported them away.
"Uh? " aster looked at him confused "weren't you just mad about something? "
"mad ? me? No, I'm just tired from the gates and work." Sylvester smiled at him, it was a smile that he couldn't look away from."
" haha, sylveter. How come you don't smile more?"
"What?"