A Sunless Dream

"Don't ask about it" Sunny's commanding tone immediately killed her curiosity. She watched with interest as the blood that had poured from his body began to flow towards him, seeping back into his skin as though it had never left.

"That's...unique" Nephis commented with a raised eyebrow, Sunny laughed slightly before replying "It's an attribute I have, I only bleed on special occasions." His eyes quickly became more focused as he beckoned Nephis to his side.

Nephis obliged readily as she briskly made her way towards him, Sunny wrapped his hand around her waist before shadows began to swirl a few feet away from the two of them. In a moment, Orion emerged from the miniature tornado with an amused look on his face.

"I asked you to cut a continent and you're here looking for love?" shaking his head, he allowed a mischievous smirk to settle on his face before continuing "Didn't your experience with Changing Star teach you anything?" Nephis felt Sunny tense at the mention of her true name, his body was almost shaking with anger.

"She's different, why do you care anyway?" under his breathe Sunny sent silent curses at Orion who quickly summoned a chair of shadows and made himself comfortable. "I can't say I'm any different, although my choice in women is far better, Revel has been taking up my attention quite a bit these days."

"Is that a bad thing?" Sunny questioned with a raised eyebrow; Orion shook his head firmly at the question "Far from it. But that's not why I'm here. You've used weavers mask, so I assume you've already seen it too."

Shaking his head, Sunny stared at Orion in confusion. With a small sigh Orion stared at him like he was a small child "The blue string attached to your chest; what do you think it represents? Don't answer that, it's a law of nature. I assume it is the string binding all humans to space and stopping us from doing things like cutting space itself apart."

"Why in the world would you care enough to cut space? Are you crazy or is there some other goal you're trying to get at from learning how to do that." His eyes narrowed as he finished his sentence, learning to cut apart the very laws governing the world themselves was a fools errand. However, he strangely felt that he and Orion could do it if they really tried to.

"It's a passion project, I got told I could do it and so I will. It should even let me damage unholy and corrupted titans; the rest can be killed mundanely." Slowly, a tornado of shadows began to surround him slowly as he raised himself from his chair and glanced back at Sunny "If you want to, try it. But I expect some continent to be cut the next time I speak to you."

With that, Orion had disappeared. Sunny didn't know who had appointed him as his teacher, however each time he attempted to protest he was swiftly beaten down by Orion. Eventually, he accepted that his teaching was valuable.

He felt himself growing stronger.

It took every ounce of Nephis resolve to hide the look of disgust that attempted to invade her features upon viewing Orion. If there was one person she hated in the world, bar the three ghouls responsible for her parents death. It was him.

Orion took everything she loved about Sunny and twisted it; he was a foreign amalgamation which only elicited her anger and brought about suffering wherever he went. And to hear he was now in a relationship with one of the strongest saints from Song? Almost pushed her to her limit.

Sunny's warm voice pulled her out of her hate driven mental state as he looked at her with a bashful expression "Sorry for that, my acquaintance isn't very polite. Let's go somewhere more private, you must be confused what happened with the mask right?"

Nephis silent nod gave him all the answer he needed as he summoned the Marvellous Mimic. It looked exactly how Nephis remembered it, a small cottage from the outside which was much larger compared to the inside. Before Nephis knew what was happening, they were inside the Cafe.

Looking outside the windows, she found she was no longer located in the gigantic field Sunny typically hung around in, rather she was in a colourless beach with a black ocean. Seven suns emitting colourless light hung lazily in the sky as Nephis awed at the beauty of Sunny's soul.

In the corner of her eye, Nephis saw millions if not billions of creatures in his soul. Focusing her vision once more, she found several nightmare creatures as well as people standing motionlessly within the vast expanse of Sunny's soul.

Sunny stared at her with an amused expression "What, have you never seen the soul sea of a saint before?" Nephis shook her head slowly, a small grin appearing on her face "I expected it to be less...drab" the banter continued for a few minutes before Sunny's face quickly became serious.

"Fate, you're aware of the concept, correct?" Nephis nodded causing Sunny to continue "Weaver is the daemon of fate; I'll spare you all the details, but that mask allows the user to gaze upon their fate and the connection their fate has with others."

Nephis turned her head slightly, curiosity brimmed within her body however she forced herself not to appear too desperate. "What did you see when you looked at your fate?" Sunny laughed at the question, a cold, hollow, bitter laugh devoid of all humour.

Placing a hand upon his eyes, Sunny collapsed onto a chair before turning to face her "Usually, your connection to fate is supposed to be represented by strings. Mine are chains, they used to be strings like any other person, it's like the world is mocking me and letting me know I'll never be free."

Sunny sighed as he shrunk in on himself slightly, Nephis however didn't give him the opportunity to do so. Walking up to him, she forcefully pried his face away from the ceiling forcing him to look into her eyes "A defeatist attitude will never get you anywhere, if you could change your fate from strings to chains, then I'm quite sure you'll be able to change it back."

Resolve brimmed in her voice as Sunny studied her for a few moments, a blush grew on both of their cheeks as Nephis slowly looked away from him. Sunny's soft voice however did not go unheard by Nephis keen ears "You're so different compared to her."

Nephis turned around with an eyebrow raised "What do you mean?" from the looks of things, her disguise had succeeded in fooling him. However, the idea of Sunny falling in love with someone who presumably acted much different than how Nephis portrayed herself to him didn't sit well with her.

Raising his hands in a placating fashion Sunny stared at her with an apologetic gaze "It's a good thing, you act so much different to Nephis. It helps me take my mind off her, nothing good ever comes from focusing on that woman."

A flash of pain tore through Nephis heart as she heard those words, but with that a low bubbling resolve grew in her heart. 'Even if I can't see him as Nephis, I'll see him as Stella. Maybe I can fix what I've broken.'

Pacing over to him, Nephis pulled him to his feet lightly to which Sunny obliged. Before he knew what happened, Nephis pulled him into a deep kiss. Sunny's eyes widened as he reciprocated the gesture, slowly relaxing as he pulled her closer to him.

Pulling back slightly, gasping for breathe Nephis looked at him once more, passion racing through her body. "If it hurts to focus on anyone else, focus on me."

And with that, she gained his undivided attention.