𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 || 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨!𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙭 𝙛!𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

[𝟏𝟏]. moonkissed

"Bennett... it's not your fault, don't apologize..."

"B-But my bad luck... it was the reason why Rex Lapis fell! And why—and why you cried..." Turning his face away, the boy's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white at the force of his pain.

—A pain so familiar to his iron-clad heart. Every day, he was the cause of bad luck. Every day, he brought extra whopperflowers and slimes to the Traveler's party...

He was... regrettably... meant to be alone. The stars had forced him to walk by himself, and even if he tried to fit in—

A reminder so bitter, a reminder that whispered in his ears, it tainted his mind...

"Nobody wants to work with you."

[Y/N]'s tears were his fault. Rex Lapis' death was his fault. It was all his fault... why? Why couldn't he just be a normal adventure—

"Bennett."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, [e/c] eyes bore into the depths of forest green irises, staring—no, reading his soul as if it were a travel guide.

"Rex Lapis' death was not your fault. My tears were not your fault... nothing is your fault, understand?"

Wisdom. Wisdom filled her eyes, a wisdom that could only be found in eons upon eons of life, centuries upon centuries of slaughter.

It's not your fault, it's not your fault.

He was but a teenage boy, an optimistic adventurer who just wanted to find a treasure for his dads.

And yet, here he was. His emotions bursting under this fateful night, this fateful sky, and destined trees.

"You're not alone, Bennett. Do you think Aether would keep you in his party if he saw you as a burden?"

No response.

. . .

It was only fair, considering the light sniffles that left his nose, the silent tears he cried—all a representation of those countless nights he spent... alone, under the same moon and same sky.

The same moon that had watched him climb through deserted ruins with injuries, the same sky that had concurred lightning to zap his goggles—cracking the spectacles.

And in both of those times, he was one. He was one, one adventurer, one boy in the vast world.

For the first time in his life,

—He was not alone.

✩

"Did you know that during the archon war, you couldn't see the stars in the sky?" You hummed, sitting beside the lime-eyed male. Opting to take a break from your 'patrol' to watch the constellations, you found yourself occasionally side-eyeing the adventurer.

"What? ...Why?" His curiosity seemed to peek—a noble trait of adventurers, you must admit.

"I suppose in a land of bloodshed, the stars couldn't shine. It'd be quite grim if the land was desolate and the sky was plentiful," Answering his question to the best of your abilities, you couldn't help but wonder whether Rex Lapis was one of those stars.

Vivid amber and orange formations—that was what you remembered of the geo archon.

But maybe, he was up there. With the others...

With Guizhong.

✩

[DIHUA MARSH]