A Sunless Dream

Nephis and Casse stared at Sunny wide eyed as he finished showing them the first memory, in all honesty they didn't know that Sunny had been forced into such a rough and harsh life from early on. Cassie had a life too dissimilar to this to know how to comfort him, however Nephis knew all to well what it was like to have a family then lose it.

She reached out her hand to grab Sunny's shoulder, he flinched at the contact but didn't brush her off as he continued to lean against the wall taking deep breaths continuously to calm himself down. 'If this goes on any further, he might have a panic attack' was the one thought going through Nephis mind.

Nephis attempted to pull him into an embrace, but Sunny stopped her "There's still one more memory left" was all he could manage between his wheezing breaths, "Cassie, do it again" preparing himself for another round of re opening closed wounds Sunny tensed his body only for Cassie to resist his request. "Sunny, we understand it now. Why do you feel the need to make yourself suffer just to allow us to know more about you? Haven't you done enough?"

A low laugh escaped Sunny's lips "Done enough?" he laughed to himself "It will never be enough, it's my fate to live and die caught up in you peoples machinations because I know damn well I'm not sticking around with the worse of two evils" turning to Nephis he grabbed her by the shoulder to keep himself upright "Nephis, do you remember what you said in the forgotten shore to all the sleepers who did not want to follow you?"

It only took her a few seconds to remember those words 'If you follow me, you will never be a slave' she bit her lip and looked away from Sunny unable to meet his eyes. "If you follow me, you'll never be a slave. You lied Nephis, you lied to me" there was no rage in his voice, nothing except for the melancholy acceptance that he was in love with a liar, and he had no way of escaping it.

Sunny was about to fall to his knees, sharing his memories had taken a lot out of him mentally but before he could do so he quickly found himself caught in the warm embrace of Nephis. She held him firmly not allowing him to shrug her off and ran her hands through his hair "I can't say it will all work out, but for what it's worth. Thank you for sticking around with me so long, thank you for loving me regardless of the pain I put you through, thank you for staying alive" she whispered into his ears.

'Thank you for staying alive' Sunny thought to himself, for a good period of his life staying alive and living even a little bit better than a beast had been his entire goal. After realising that his slavery to Nephis would not be broken, staying alive became more of a hinderance to him than a steadfast goal he could fall back on. His life was riddled with failures that he would never be able to reconcile, and yet here she was thanking him for all his efforts.

Maybe he could rely on Nephis this time, just this once.

Nephis felt Sunny's body shaking as he silently cried into her arms, and after a while he stopped. Pulling him away from her body she saw that Sunny was entirely asleep, not in the deep state of unconsciousness she had forced upon him before but rather genuine sleep in the presence of someone he could feel safe around.

"It'll take us another four days to get to the ivory tower at the rate we're going. Cassie, can you give us some room?" Nephis whispered, making sure not to stir Sunny who was currently asleep while standing. Cassie nodded and walked out the room quietly as Nephis and Sunny were left alone in the room to their own devices.

Slowly laying him down on the bed Nephis sat next to him and gently ran her fingers through his hair 'He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping' she mused allowing a small smile to settle itself upon her features. Since he was sleeping, Sunny wasn't providing his armour the essence it needed to remain summoned and all he was left with was a black shirt which was half the way pulled up revealing his abs.

Nephis quickly took notice of that fact and moved to pull his shirt down, causing Sunny to stir in his sleep. The sudden movement caused her hands to brush across his stomach and it took all of Nephis years of staying calm under pressure honed through combat to not squeal at the contact as she pulled her hand back. Looking away from him to avoid going redder than she already was Nephis tapped her fingers across her thigh before deciding to go to sleep as well.

After an hour or two, Sunny found himself awake in Nephis room with her sleeping form right in front of him. 'How the hell did I get here' Sunny thought to himself in a panic, he moved to look at his body and found that he still had a shirt on causing him to let loose a quiet sigh of relief that he didn't know the cause of.

Taking a moment to gaze at Nephis, a smile settled upon Sunny's features as he was reminded once more why he fell in love with her. Her undying will, social awkwardness and inability to express herself properly as well as her deific beauty all came together in one excellently wrapped gift that had been delivered straight to his heart.

'But how would we even work, she's my master and I'm her slave' Sunny thought to himself, he was the one who said the words anyway and the Sin of Solace had not allowed Sunny to forget them no matter how hard he tried to repress them.

There was nothing more pathetic than a slave who begins to trust his slaver.

Sunny knew this all too well, if push came to shove, he knew Nephis would use her power over him to preserve his safety or her ability to carry out her goals. Yet at the same time he also knew that if he was ever destined to be a slave, she would be the one he'd give command over his chains.

'Who the fuck am I kidding? Why am I forced to settle for the lesser of two evils and sacrifice my freedom to the person who's dearest in my heart? That isn't how it should work, fuck my destiny, fuck fate.' Sunny looked up at the ceiling with another sigh, his feelings were too conflicted to be able to properly act. On one hand, he wanted to pursue a relationship with Nephis, yet on the other hand, he knew it wouldn't work because he was her slave.

But a part of him didn't care.

Sunny was torn from his thoughts as he felt Nephis slowly shifting next to him. She was waking up. Turning to face her once more, he saw her beautiful grey eyes focused intently on him and the twitching of her lips showing a barely suppressed smile. He wanted to speak but she beat him to it "Sunny, do you want to take a drip with me around bastion sometime?" the words kicked the air out his lungs, how was he supposed to respond, what was he to say?

After a brief pause, Sunny slowly nodded and whispered "Yeah, I'd love to" because he did. He'd love to go on a quasi date with her because ultimately he loved her, regardless of if he was her slave or not.