CHAPTER EIGHT

❝It is no secret that the moon has no light of her own, but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the sun.❞

Vitruvius

✦✧✦

There has been dispute, as long as the English language has been around, about the saddest  sentence ever created and which, of the many candidates, is indeed the saddest. Many agree with the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, when he said, "Of all the sad words of tongue or pen/The saddest are these, 'It might have been.'" Others cite Ernest Hemingway, on a bet with friends that he couldn't write a novel in six words: "For sale: Baby shoes, never worn." Still others believe in Vincent Van Gogh's alleged last words, which were, "The sadness will last forever," as he lay on his bed, bleeding from a wound he himself created. 

Luna Clair disagrees with all of them. The saddest sentence in the whole world was spoken to her just now, when the most beautiful boy she's ever met looked down at her, his eyes shining, and said, "Please, let tonight be a night I can remember for the next thousand years, for this is the happiest I have been in all my life."

(Wait just a damn minute. Why are we skipping to that part? The readers need backstory, dumbass.)

(Well, excuse me for being poetic.)

(Not the time. Now go back. And I don't mean 'go back' like 'hey, start at the beginning of time'; I mean 'go back' like 'maybe thirty minutes ago'.)

(*sigh* Fine.)

It's been three months. Three wonderful, glorious months of sleepless nights spent at the museum. And Luna wouldn't trade it for the world.

On a particular Tuesday evening, Nicky, Luna, Ahkmenrah, Sacagawea, Jed, and Octavius are sitting in the security office, watching reruns of The Office and eating M&Ms. It's Luna's favorite episode, "Office Olympics", and she's been explaining everything in whispers to Ahkmenrah, who, she's delighted to find out, has a cringy and awkward sense of humor that's equal to her own. It's also an excuse for her to be close to him, curled up in the corner of the lumpy sofa with her head almost resting on his shoulder.

There's a gentle knock on the open door, and Luna and Nicky both turn around to see Larry standing there in the doorway, with that trademark awkward expression on his face that means he has bad news.

"Can I talk to you two for a minute?" he whispers, gesturing to the hallway.

Shit. Luna sighs and touches Ahkmenrah's arm gently. "I'll be right back, okay?"

He nods, and she and Nicky get up, albeit reluctantly, and follow Larry out into the hall, out of earshot of the security office.

"What is it, Dad?" Nicky asks, leaning against the wall and looking slightly suspicious.

"You know that idea I threw out a few weeks ago, about the glow-in-the-dark flashlight?" 

Nicky nods slowly. "Yeah. What about it?"

Larry shifts from foot to foot, looking apprehensive. "Well, um, I sort of...pitched it. To a really rich guy."

"And?" 

"He's...agreed to finance the project. I've got a couple guys willing to work on it with me."

"You're kidding." Luna's jaw drops. "That's great, Mr. Daley!"

"Thank you. Thanks." Larry nods, but he's not smiling. "Uh, but there's a catch."

This is the bad news. Luna and Nicky gesture for him to go on, the euphoria wearing off slightly. 

"The guy's only agreed to finance it if we have a demo of the product in the next few months. He suggested that I...start my own company and he gets twelve percent of the initial sales."

"What are you saying, Dad?" Nicky asks.

Larry bites his lip, avoiding their eyes. "It's a fulltime gig, working on it, so I, um--I have to quit."

"What?" Luna and Nicky say at the same time, their voices raised.

"Hey, shh!" Larry's eyes widen and he waves his hand at them. "Look, I know how it sounds, but this is my dream, guys! I've always wanted to do this and now I've got somebody who's willing to pay me to do it. I can't just stay here and do the same thing forever. That life is for some people, but not for me. I think--I think my ideas can change the world, and I can't go my whole life believing that and never doing a thing about it."

"So you're--you're quitting," Luna says slowly. Every implication hits her like a truck. No more nights spent here. No more soccer matches in the lobby with the Huns. No more of Jed and Octavius' arguments to mediate. No more Ahkmenrah. Her eyes sting suddenly, for no apparent reason.

"I'm putting in my resignation when Dr. McPhee gets in tomorrow morning," Larry replies, nodding. His eyes are apologizing over and over. "Look, I'm really sorry, guys, I am."

"No, Dad, we get it." Nicky shrugs nonchalantly, but Luna can tell he's just as crushed as she is. "You have to do what's best for you. You've got a chance to follow your dreams. You should do that."

"But?" Larry's tone is apprehensive, but he probably knows what's coming.

"But this is the coolest job you've ever had." 

"I know, kiddo."

"Congratulations, Mr. Daley," Luna says, biting her lip and trying to swallow the massive lump in her throat. "I'm really proud of you."

(Larry knows, reader, and it's killing him to split them up.)

"Thanks," Larry replies, and the look on his face is knowing and sad and apologetic and all the emotions wrapped up into one. Luna looks away, at anything but him.

"If tonight's the last night," Nicky says after a long, awkward pause, "then we should--"

"Last night?'

Oh, no.

Ahkmenrah's standing behind Larry, holding the bowl of M&Ms and looking extremely confused. "Last night?" he repeats, frowning.

"Yeah, bud." Larry nods slowly, apprehensively. "I, um, got a really great new job opportunity inventing, like I always wanted."

"Really?" Ahkmenrah's face lights up. "That's wonderful, Larry!"

"So I'm...quitting."

The bowl of M&Ms clatters to the floor, and hundreds of little chocolate balls scatter across the museum floor, resting in every possible hard-to-reach place they can find.

"What?"

Larry explains the CliffNotes version to Ahkmenrah, whose mouth is wide open the entire time, and when Larry's finished, Ahkmenrah asks, "But you'll--you'll still come at night and--and visit us all, yes?"

Larry looks at the floor. "Um, I can't promise anything, Ahk. I'm gonna be pretty busy with the inventing and patenting, and these guys--" He gestures to Luna and Nicky-- "have graduation in a few months. But--but we'll try our best."

Ahkmenrah turns to Luna, and she bites back a sob at the look on his face. "Promise you'll try to visit," he whispers. "Please."

Luna can't answer.

Ahkmenrah's eyes never leave hers.

Nicky sets a hand on Larry's arm, his eyes saying, "Hey, let's give them a minute," and the two of them head back into the security office.

The minute they disappear into the doorway, Luna collides into Ahkmenrah's arms, holding him as tightly as she can, his skin fire against hers. "I'm so sorry," she breathes. "I didn't know."

Ahkmenrah's arms tighten around her waist and Luna almost cries when he lets out a shaky breath. It's nothing and everything. It means I don't want to say goodbye. It's the tiniest of things and yet, in the crushing emptiness of the lobby, it takes up all of the air in the room.

After a long, long silence, Ahkmenrah pulls away, looks down at her with shining eyes like the sea and says, "Please, let tonight be a night I can remember for the next thousand years, for this is the happiest I have been in all my life."

Luna scrubs at her suddenly wet face and nods, sniffling. "Yeah. Yeah. Okay."

So they walk. Through the halls and exhibits, sometimes in silence and sometimes talking (there's a particularly sweet moment when Luna points out an Aztec mask and mentions that it's slightly unbecoming, and Ahkmenrah, without thinking, says that her mother is slightly unbecoming, and they laugh about it for a solid five minutes), and when Luna holds out her hand to Ahkmenrah with a smile, he takes it and never lets go.

And all together too soon, it's an hour until dawn, and they're sitting in the planetarium again, both remembering the first night they spent under the stars. 

"I don't want to go," Luna whispers, breaking the tense silence and looking over at Ahkmenrah.

"May I tell you a story?"

Luna nods, a little confused, and Ahkmenrah moves closer, his hand still wrapped around hers, and begins. 

"When the universe was still young and the sky and the earth had barely parted, the sun and the moon lived together in the sky in harmony. Together, they gave light to the stars, parted the seas, and fed the crops of earth with their rays. But it could never last, because the moon was fair, beautiful, and kind, and the sun fell hopelessly in love with her.

"They loved fiercely and passionately and craved each other's touch, but their love caused the sun to scorch the earth with his rays, and the moon to drown it with her tears. The earth threatened to crumble beneath the weight of their love.

"But the sun and the moon loved the earth equally, and so they decided that for the good of the earth, they must live apart in the sky. The sun would rule the day, giving life to all that walked the earth, and the moon would rule the night, presiding over the sea and the stars in the sky. 

"And because they love still, they find ways to draw near to each other. When the sun blots out the moon in an eclipse, that is when the star-crossed lovers finally touch." Ahkmenrah smiles softly. "We are a strange pair, anyone can see that. The universe isn't ready for us yet, so we must part."

"Ahk..." Luna swallows hard.

"But it may grant us an eclipse here and there," Ahkmenrah whispers. "All we must do is trust. Promise me you'll be there, for the eclipse."

"I promise." Luna holds out her pinky to him.

"What are you doing?" Ahkmenrah looks down at her hand, confused.

"It's a pinky promise. Here, you take your little finger and--" She shows him, fighting back a laugh-- "Yeah, like that."

"What does it mean?"

"It means--it means more than a promise. It's a special promise that you can never break."

Ahkmenrah is deathly serious when he looks into her eyes. "I promise."

There are a thousand unspoken words between them as they walk back to his tomb, and for the first time in her life, Luna wishes the sun would never rise.

Ahkmenrah stops at the entrance to his tomb and takes both of her hands in his. "Luna Clair, thank you for the best nights of my life." He presses the backs of her hands to his lips and fire erupts on her skin, burning where his lips touch her. 

Luna's heart pounds in her ears as she stares at him. Her gaze flicks down to his lips. She's never kissed anyone, but she desperately wants to kiss Ahkmenrah, however strange their relationship might be.

But light creeps across the floor, signaling an end to the night, and Ahkmenrah pulls away reluctantly, his eyes lingering on hers. "Good morning," he whispers, his eyes shining, and Luna watches him climb into his sarcophagus, and the minute the lid closes, her heart throbs painfully in her chest. Good morning, Ahkmenrah.

Nicky comes to get her, and they walk home in the early morning light, the tears on their cheeks icy in the cold.

✦✧✦

*wipes tear* i wish i could say i'm sorry but this is killing me and feeding my destructive soul at the same time.

also, the story ahk tells luna is an amalgamation of a few different myths and my own invention, so if you can't find it anywhere, that's why. i just took a shit-ton of creative liberty to make it more ~romantic~

q: did you expect them to kiss?

a: yes.