Xandra closed her eyes, tiredness embracing her being. Another day finished, another day failed. I'll try again tomorrow. 

Sun shot up from her small bed under the window. She looked out to find the stars twinkling ever so bright. She doesn't get why her heart was beating so fast, why her legs and arms were clammy and–

"Good night, Sun." The voice lodged her back to her childhood room, where the man with white hair peeked through the cherry red door.

Her legs moved without her permission, scuttling out of the covers. She stood but before she could even reach Miyo, her feet had already given out underneath her.

Miyo caught her by the shoulders. Sun caught the worried blur for a millisecond before crashing her face into his chest. Though she wants to cry, the tears won't escape her eyes. 

A sad sigh escaped her, but along with it were words she'd had hidden and locked away somewhere she couldn't find it. It came tumbling out in a breathy, desperate gasp.

"I'll make sure to save you, Manasseh. I won't ever leave you, I promise... So please don't ever leave me too."

*

*

*

The calm breeze brushed past the leaves of Sun's garden. It was well tamed, shining with a peculiar blue hue that only the dew of the moon could give.

Beside her as she pruned the leaves of a Fleur-de-lis, Miyo sat in silent observation, as he always did.

"You really like flowers, don't you Sun?"

Sun didn't answer him, but the gentle caress of her hands on the soil was enough of an indication.

"Why?" Miyo asked.

Yet again, Sun was silent. She stayed still over the plant, admiring its lavender petals that drooped and curled ever so delicately. It was beautiful, and so, so fragile.

"Because their life is in my hands. I can choose to take care of them or kill them." Sun turned to look at Miyo, a small, sad smile fixated on her face. "I choose to keep them alive."

*

*

*

"There's still three more things I want to show you!"

Sun huffed and puffed as she followed Miyo through the thick thorn bushes and thickets. The sky was dark, and so was the tiny forest. Goosebumps peppered her skin, and a gripping feeling suffocated her heart.

Something was wrong.

"Wait–hold on," Sun gasped out, Miyo's shadow growing fainter and fainter in the distance. It stopped, waiting for her.

She yanked her lavender dress out of the thorn bushes' grasp, tearing a good part of it off. Sun grimaced but caught up with Miyo as best she could.

Miyo had his arms crossed, standing in front of a frosty lake. The bushes and trees looked much friendlier there. Sun sighed, brushing her dress off of dirt and debris.

Miyo turned to look at her, "Well, this is it."

"Shouldn't we have waited till morning to get here instead?" Her voice was low, a mumble even.

"No time to lose!"

Before Sun could react properly, Miyo dove in the lake, blue coat and golden equipment still on. "Miyo!"

Sun sighed exasperatedly, gripping her lavender dress as she paced in front of the lake. After a while, Miyo still hasn't come up.

"My, screw it," She said in a harsh whisper before diving in before him.

The frigid waters shocked her face and enveloped her arms, her dress puffing under her in a messy lavender hues. She opened her eyes and dove down deeper, still no Miyo in sight. Her muscles strained as she tried to keep herself under the water, diving deeper and deeper.

Still no blue coat in sight.

Something gripped at her heart, making it increasingly harder to concentrate. Where are you? Her mind shouted out.

A sharp hand caught the tear in her dress.

A scream bubbled up Sun's mouth, letting out what spare oxygen she had left. Tears pricked at her eyes.

She looked down to find brown tattered cloth and choppy brown hair. The hand on her dress only gripped her further, propelling her deeper and deeper into the floor of the lake.

Sun kicked her legs, clawing at the hand that tore through her lavender dress. She was like a rat caught in a trap, hues of lavender and blues blinding her. The lake was getting blurrier by the second; her chest tightened.

As her head became light, tints of choppy brown hair and tattered clothes trailed from the hand that gripped her down. She turned her head, white strands of hair flowed under the water, a blue coat tugged and tattered.

Her heart dropped

Mi–

*

*

*

Warm, damp cloth sat on Sun's forehead. She let out a frosty gasp, eyes opening to brown rocks. With one hand, she rubbed her eyes, and with the other she tried to propel herself up but to no avail. Sun collapsed back on the warm cloth spread on the ground underneath her.

Turning her head to the side, she spotted Miyo's blue cloak, tattered at the seams. She raised her head to the tiny stalactites that hung from the den's ceiling. It was a small pocket of air under the lake, the frigid waters still lapping at the edges.

This was what he wanted to show me? How dangerous.

An involuntary shiver went up Sun's arms. Although she was out of the water, the den was not much better. Her gown was still dripping, and a quick look around would suggest Miyo wasn't around. Where did he go? The sense of urgency propelled her up in a sitting position.

Sun pulled the zipper off her drenched gown, leaving her in her damp undergarments. Quickly, she snatched the tattered blue cloak and slinked her arms on the sleeves. She made sure to button it down just before Miyo's head popped out of the lake.

"Miyo!" She sat back down on the mattress. "Where did you go?"

He flicked water off his face and climbed up the rocky ledge. Sun closed her eyes. A single swift swishing sound of cloth filled the den. When Sun opened her eyes, Miyo was dressed in the same dry blue cloak she now wore.

He turned to Sun, "I took some dry clothes. But I didn't know where yours were so..." He sighed. The cloak was stiff, but she'd prefer that over a thin, short one.

She nodded in thanks. "Where are we?" Sun turned her head to observe the tiny den with small stalactites on the roof. It wasn't too large, just a tiny air pocket over the lake. On the far corner were stacks of books and comics, paper, small pencils and a couple pens. Beside it was a woven basket, falling apart at the seams. A black towel covered its contents.

"This is a little den I found. It's cold, but I find it relaxing." Miyo leaned on the chill, hard walls with a small smile on his face.

Sun scooted to the end of the den and fingered through the stacks of paper. "It's dangerous," she retorted. "How could you like it?"

Miyo hummed and lit the small fireplace in the middle. "Maybe it's because in here no one can find me, that's why I like it."

Sun stilled, caressing the papers. "So do you not like people, Miyo?" She didn't look behind her, continuing to rummage through the stacks of drawings. She took a marker and a crumpled piece of paper and started drawing.

Miyo still hasn't answered. Finally, he spoke, "Heh, your dress is really hard to dry, there's so many layers."

"Don't ignore my question." Sun put down the marker and took another, scribbling on the paper.

Miyo said from behind, "I...bother people. It's them that don't like me." There was no place for argument in his statement. 

A chill went up Sun's spine. But she pushed on, fire lighting her words. "And this is where you hide away."

Miyo was quiet, the only sound in the den Sun's mindless scribbles and the crackling fire that painted the walls a warm golden hue. Sun couldn't see Miyo's face, and his silence was starting to bother her.

"I never thought you would jump in too. I thought you would just stand still, but I was wrong." Miyo said. Sun didn't answer him.

He spoke again, this time with an urgency in his voice. "In truth, I didn't like that you did that." Sun raised her gaze to the golden hues dancing in front of the rock she's facing, as if she was seeing for the first time. She looked down at the scribbles on the journal she held. Creepy, was her only thought.

"Sun."

She caressed the journal, nails tearing through the scribbled pages.

Again Miyo spoke, "You don't need to save me. You need to save yourself."

What is there to save? She wanted to ask. Instead she said, "Whose journal is this?"

Miyo shuffled from behind her and sat to her side. His face did not make itself known in her eyes, her eyes keeping itself trained on the space in front of her. She couldn't move her head.

Miyo sighed and gently took the journal from her, flipping through it in her peripheral vision. "It's mine. I don't think you can read it; I don't really know how to write..."

A small smile involuntarily graced her face and she turned to him. "I can teach you."

*

*

*

The crisp nighttime air clung to her dry dress and blonde curls. A breeze flew by, raking its fingers through her hair. Sun held a hand over her eyes and another to keep her dress down.

Miyo was standing in front of a cliff. A large, beautiful cliff. Fireflies and glittering flowers covered the blue landscape glazed with silver light.

He stood there, back turned to her. His blue coat looked strangely brown, bruised. His silver hair rivaled the moon's, the wind pulling it off from his low ponytail. It swayed against the wind. He stayed still, arms beside himself.

Sun approached the end of the cliff where he stood. "Miyo?" Her voice was lost in the wind's breath.

He turned to see her, but no smile turned with him. "Sun," he said. His eyes were the color of a dark evening, rays setting behind his pupils. Half-crescents darkened under his narrowed eyes, contrasting the pale of his face. He looked tired.

"I'm sorry." He sounded remorseful. "Can we stop now?"

Sun talked, but her words were lost.

"They told me..." His words were lost in the chill morning gusts. The forget-me-nots twirled in his hair and fell off the cliff. Myosotis, Sun remembered. "I shouldn't stay here," he stumbled back.

Sun spoke, her throat vibrated, her mouth formed words.

She couldn't hear them.

The sun engulfed them in its shameful golden light. Behind Miyo, it glowed, outlined his fragile state.

Finally, the bubble in her ears receded and she heard herself. "Don't you like it here?" Her voice cracked, she stumbled forward. Desperation coated her voice, ringing so clear in her head.

"I am not him, Sun. You don't know him. You never knew him."

The bubble came back. 'So why do you so desperately feel this way?' The words were not his, nor hers. She did not know where it came from. The voice was foreign.

Sun stumbled closer. Miyo took another step closer to the cliff. Her mouth formed a single, repeated word, voice ringing in her ears.

"Please!" Her knees gave away under her and she crashed on the hills prickly grass. Tears clung to her eyelashes, ran down her cheek. "Please, please, please!" Sun turned her head to the ground, hands grabbing at her hair.

"I...I said I won't let it happen again. I promised." She sobbed into her hands, so grueling and desperate. She thought about the way he shone under the sun, the way his mind worked, the eagerness in his voice when he talked about the things he loved. The way they could go on and on until the sun set about what they thought and what they believed in.

Was she grieving?

She looked up at him with teary eyes. Miyo stared at her with an unsettling seriousness, eyes tired and deadpanned.

Sun whispered. "Didn't we have so much fun together? Didn't you have one more thing to show me? So please, spend more time with me. Just a little more. Don't leave me again."

"Sun, you left me." He smiled and took another step back, right at the very mouth of the cliff.

Sun's eyes widened and she got up on trembling legs. The wind carried Myosotis flowers, Alpine Violets and Pansies, petals fluttering so innocently on the sunrise's golden haze. He took another step back. She took another step forward.

Sun reached out her hand, mouth forming words she can't hear.

She reached the end of the cliff, hands slipping past air.

Miyo fell.

"No–!" She stumbled to her knees, eyes unapologetically glued to his falling form. Terror seeped into her bones, reaching her veins and stopping her heart. No, no, no.

She watched his pure white hair block her face, glitching from brown to white, long to short. The wind rattled his coat, glitching from blue to tattered brown, gold embroidery to mud stained patches. The sun outlined his falling body, Manasseh or Miyo, Miyo and Manasseh, right as his body hit the cold, hard rock.

Sun saw blood.

***

WOO! We're just starting, trust me. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you're still reading this, don't be shy, hit that vote button to let me know!

Any theories? Confusing things I haven't cleared up (trust me that happens a lot)? Comment so I am informed!