A/N: To all of my loving followers and stars who have known me since early January or even earlier will recognize a snippet of this story from White Wings (Rayllum One-shots! ^^) Told ya that I'd incorporate White Wings somehow ^^ <333

❁ RECAP ❁

"B-but there was everything about the disease, and how only Callum could find the cure and be immune, and something about the inner you taking control of your desires, and-"

"Soren," Janai said, pointing to Amaya.

"What- what is it?!"

"I never sent Callum a letter."

---------------

"What do you mean, 'you never sent Callum a letter?'" Soren interrogated and threw his hands up.

"What I'm saying is that I've been trapped down here for so long that I honestly don't know what else to say," Amaya shrugged. "I've been here since Janai attacked me."

"Are you sure?" Soren asked, scratching his head.

"Positive," Amaya confirmed, her eyes hard and narrowed.

"But what I don't understand is..." Soren began, pacing around the room. "Is how I saw your body in the nurse's room, the, uh, the hospital!" He stammered. "How did you manage to get out here so quickly? How was your body there, and also here at the same time? Did you move at one point?"

Amaya shook her head, giving a light shrug. 

"I do have a question, however," Janai blurted. "I do not ever recall attacking neither you or Amaya. Ever since I heard the alarms, a man with a black hood shoved me into this room." She shrugged. From what Soren saw, her eyes seemed to be telling the truth, but the rest of her? He wasn't so sure.

"You don't?" Soren repeated, dumbfounded.

"Yes, that is what I have been telling you," the Sunfire elf sighed, slouching against a wall behind her.

"If that's the case, then that might explain why there were two Amaya's-"

"And two of me," Janai continued. "In the Kingdom of Katolis, is it possible to create clones?"

"No, not that I remember," Soren realized, rubbing his chin. "Well, the closest we have to clones would be my dad, Viren's, dark magic. He can do just about anything with that- you know, make himself younger, create random spirits, and all that jazz. But nothing else-"

"So... you're saying that Viren might be responsible for this?" Janai interjected furiously.

"I mean, it's not our right to jump to conclusions, because I can kind of remember..." Soren hesitated. "...no, that's not important."

"Wait, no, explain." Amaya interspersed, eyebrows furrowed.

"When Rayla and I were led to the place where you found me, there was this guy, his name was Abigail or something. He's the one who trapped Rayla in a glass box-"

"Rayla's in a glass box?!" Amaya signed.

"Oh, uh... right. Let me explain what happened..." Soren began.

------------

C A L L U M

He was still lost in thought, under his makeshift shelter of rotted wood.

At this point, if you took a single glance at him, you wouldn't even have known it was Callum. He was covered in snow and dried blood, and his eyes were sunken into his skull, that is, if you could even see his eyes since they were puffy and red. 

All in all, you wouldn't have been able to recognize him.

Callum shivered, covered beneath a blanket of snow, trying to keep his feet warm. He instantly regretted not bringing shoes, but it was better than going back and having to face whatever had happened. 

He simply avoided that one thought like the plague. When his mind drifted towards that cursed box, he focused on treating his frostbite. When he reminisced on Rayla, he decided to focus on improving his shelter. If he ever thought about her screams that haunted him... well, he'd just bury his face and work on steadying his breath and trying to keep warm.

Callum glanced solemnly, poking his head out of the shelter he had trapped himself in. 

The moon.

The moon was high up in the sky, gazing down at him like a glowing ball of happiness. And beside it? Beside it was the stars, which seems to follow his eyes carefully.

When he felt that there was double a moon and triple the amount of stars, his eyes grew heavy as he suddenly slumped against a chunk of rotted wood.

And soon enough he was sound asleep.

"Are you ready to leave yet?" Rayla asked, putting her hair in a bun as she did before.

Callum took out his scarf from the laundry basket and wrapped it around his neck. "Yup," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Let's go," Rayla let her fingers interlock with his as she opened the door.

They set down a plaid red and white cloth on the field of grass in their backyard and put down their basket. Callum took out tall, white candles and lit them, putting lights around the blanket to illuminate the dark outdoors.

"Are you ready, Rayla?" 

"Yeah," she smiled.

He lit the candles, the flames flickering and roaring to life. "Ha, this is perfect," Rayla said as she took out glasses of water and food from the basket. Around them, the moon glowed as if it could feel emotions.

If the moon could feel emotions? People might have described it as lovesick, satisfied, content, beaming. Just as Callum felt.

The stars glimmered in the sky as the two cuddled under blankets after eating. They looked up into the sky and smiled at each other.

"I love you, Rayla," he smiled, as he put his arms around her neck.

"Love you too; you big, dumb, human," Rayla said while holding onto him.

Callum pulled her into a kiss, letting his lips mold into hers as they stood there, forgetting about the worries of the world. Rayla pulled away to smile, then kissed him on the nose.

They stared at each other, speaking without words. Rayla grabbed his hand as she spun him around.

Callum laughed, holding onto her wrists and crossing his leg over so she would lean back. He caught her in his arms, both giggling as they did so. He let his arm move up to spin her around once more, leaving her in a position where she couldn't move without being released.

There, he kissed her once more and let her go. She laughed as she put her bun down, saying," Ah, oh jeez my hair-" she laughed. "I look like a mess, this is hilarious,"

Callum pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and put his thumb across her cheek. He smiled as he took off his jacket and put it around her.

"You look perfect," he whispered to himself.

She put her lips on his and when she released, he said,

"You're perfect."

Callum woke up in a daze, finding himself reaching out towards the sky in an attempt to hold her hand. 

But there was nothing there.

No hand to hold, no eyes to lock onto, no reason to continue with his quest.

No reason to live.

As if someone were controlling him, Callum stood up faster than you could say 'stop.'

And someone should have told him, "stop."

Because soon enough, he found himself crouched down on the mud and snow, knees soaked and feet freezing above a cliff. And while he looked down, he stopped- he stopped because he was confused and upset. His feet hurt from running so fast, and he could barely even feel them.

How did he even get here?

On top of a cliff?

About to throw himself down?

Tears blurred his vision as he managed to suck in a deep breath and take one step forward- he estimated that in around five steps...

...that in five steps, all the pain would be over. He wouldn't have to spend the rest of his days crying, he wouldn't have to worry about Rayla or this... Verum whatever. No more viruses, just pure bliss.

One step.

Thank you, Rayla. Thank you for making life worth it.

Two steps.

Thank you for accepting me when I didn't even know how to accept myself.

Three steps.

Thank you for being so patient with me. Thank you for taking me on the adventures of my life.

Four steps.

I love you, even though you may not love me, not anymore.

Last step.

I'm sorry.

And he jumped- and at that moment, time seemed to slow down. It was like the sky was crumbling down on him and he was walking in syrup all at once. His eyes watered as felt the wind shove past his face, brutal and aggressive.

How sad would it be to find a boy, no older than fifteen sobbing his eyes out, feet blue and bruised with hands painted with blood? No one could ever imagine.

Except for Ezran.

The moment Ezran saw Callum near the edge of the cliff, he screamed. He screamed so loudly that Claudia almost had to step back, before she noticed, too, and ran towards the cliff to see where Callum was now.

Ezran instantly scrambled to grab Callum's hand just before he fell, but he watched as his only brother plunged deeper and deeper, as his grip loosened. The cliff was so tall that you couldn't even tell whether or not Callum had landed.

No doubt about it, to emphasize, the cliff was so high that you could barely even see Callum halfway through. When he jumped, there was nothing too visible except a small, blue dot falling slowly, getting smaller and smaller. That's just a taste of how high it was- it seemed like he was on the top of a skyscraper, because 

"I'm going to go get him." Ezran declared.

And he jumped.