Chapter Text
A crimson spire tower crumbles as two figures stand facing each other ready to fight,
Sunny looked at Nephis with a downcast expression at having to fight the person who was closest to him, they had fought side by side on their journey to the bright castle and then fought together on their journey to find the dawn shard. They had always had each other's back; they both trusted each other completely when fighting never doubting their choices or actions, well he had at least, no one could survive in the dream realm alone after all. At the beginning of his journey, he had placed his life in her hand more out of necessity rather than trust but after all the battle fought all the blood spilled, after all those battles he had begun to truly trust Nephis, even if she hadn't trusted him yet, his trust in her grew as their friendship changes into partnership which oonly made what was going to happen hurt more.
"Only one of us can leave this cursed place" Sunny said, with an almost mocking tone
"yeah" Nephis responded in her usual cold tone
Nephis launched towards Sunny, aiming to slash Sunny across the chest, but Sunny took a step back a beat before the attack landed barely missing it by millimeters. using her momentum to his advantage Sunny aimed to stab her chest but Nephis twisted her upper body to dodge having the blade of his tachi cut her shoulder. Nephis used the proximity to perform an upward slash at Sunny, he wasn't able to dodge fully resulting in a shallow slash across his chest. This limbo between the two continued as the spire slowly crumbled around them as they fought a large chunk of the spire fell down destroying the floor and sending both of them falling onto the lower lever of the spire.
"Damm" Sunny thought as he struggled to get a hold of his surroundings as he stood up.
Ruble laid all over the floor some small some large, Sunny looked around to find Nephis and saw her body glowing faintly due to her aspect, he lunged at her to continue the fight and incapacitate her so he could leave, though he didn't really want to leave her. Nephis quickly reacted to sunny as the continued fighting exchanging attacks, returning every cut they received, as the battle went on sunny felt his understanding of shadow dance grow as he learned and copied Nephis' battle style, it was easier to predict her moves since she had taught him her battle style in the coral labyrinth near the start of their journey. Sunny pushed any unnecessary feelings and thoughts to the back of his mind as he focused on their battle. Soon Nephis had gained the upper hand in the battle having more experience and being stronger than sunny. In a moment of desperation sunny extended his hand in front of Neph's face summoning the ordinary rock, using the light from the sparks of essence to momentarily blind nephis as the room was fairly dark. In that moment Nephis reeled back into the shadows, staggering a little at the sudden flash of light. for a moment it seemed like Nephis was the shadow and Sunny the angle being bathed in light. This gave sunny enough time to attack nephis, he went behind her and cut her right calve making Nephis drop to one knee, Sunny didn't really want to kill her.
Sunny loomed over her and said " you lost " in a monotone voice
" ... Why don't we just both escape and find a different way-out a way for both of us" he said in a slightly pleading tone, not wanting to leave her in the hell of the forgotten shore alone
Nephis didn't want that she wanted sunny to go the waking world and see his sister to escape of the violence and cruelty of the dream realm, of the violence and destruction her journey would bring him, so she shook her head in denial saying three words that she could come to regret, three words that would make Sunny's world crumble She said:
"Lost from Light"
But before she could give him the command to leave and go back, the spire quacked so much causing a huge chunk of the sealing to come crashing down the shockwave of the impact causing both Sunny and Nephis to be launched in opposite direction. Nephis crashed into a pile of rubble while Sunny skited on the floor nearly falling off the side where they had ascended the coral, causing both to lay on the ground groaning from the pain.
Sunny groaned and staggered as he stood up, faltering a little from the impact of slamming the ground taking time to figure out his position and where Nephis was, then it hit him Nephis had said his true name the feeling of shackles around his soul almost felt physical and it was like a stab to the heart to think she had not only learned about his true name but used it. Several thoughts ran through his mind before only one question remained "how " how had she known, how did she figure out his true name, who had told her. In an instant rage and hatred filled him mind but also a deep sense of hurt at how she could do such a thing to him. In the next moment he spotted her, the soft glow of her skin growing brighter then he locked eyes with Nephis and then as he saw her body sway slightly, he noticed something, something that made his heart stop and his hatred for her burn hotter, so hot it could and melted alloy
As Nephis tried to stand she staggered still reeling from the impact and having hit ger head on something, her vision was blurry and the cut on her leg prevented her from standing up so she focused her aspect from augmenting her weapon to healing her as she needed it healed up fast. Her vision slowly started to clear, and she saw a figure in the distance staggering up, it was Sunny, she was glad he wasn't seriously injured but noticed his scorching gaze on her, the hatred and hurt in his eyes clear. She felt a pang of sadness and guilt and she realized why such a hatred was in his eyes, she could feel an almost innate sense that Sunny and her were connected she had done something to him by saying his true name, though she didn't know quite yet what that thing was that she had done. but then she realized something in the haze of her vision, the light from her flame was growing brighter despite her not increasing the flame augmenting or healing her. She was confused for a second before she thought of something, and so she looked around at where she was that's when the realization hit her like a physical blow, but it was too late for her she had realized to late where she was and her shock momentarily stunned her. Nephis thought he had landed on a pile of rubble, but she had in fact not it was the gateway back, she had not realized sooner due to her blurry vision and had mistaken the light of the runes for the light of her aspect. Due to her usual icy expression and her loss of humanity due to her flaw her face wasn't as expressful as a regular person, so it seemed as if she was unbothered by what had happened or as if it was meant to happen so there was no reason for her to be shocked
Sunny stared at Nephis stunned , the hatred that ran through him surged as he saw where she was and in that blind range failed to notice the hint of shock visible in her eyes, his hatred raged at the fact that she wasn't showing a shocked expression upon realizing that she was standing in the gate way, her indifferent and cold expression made sunny believe that it was an intentional betrayal. But even if it wasn't he refused to lose and be left on this dammed place, and so he ran toward Nephis trying to stop her from leaving, the hatred making him want to leave her here as revenge for having enslaved him but by the time he got close it was to late the gate hade activated and Nephis was starting to dissipate into sparks.
She held her hand out as if trying to grab Sunny not wanting to leave screaming one word in her shock
" SUNNY" she screamed in a desperate tone, but Sunny never heard as in that moment the crimson spire strongly trembled causing more debris to fall masking her voice with the sounds of falling coral
as Sunny reached the gateway, she was gone she had disappeared from where she stood, but sunny didn't have enough time to focus on the betrayal, he had to escape the crimson spire before it collapsed on top of him. He ran and summoned the Dark wing as he jumped off the side, gliding down as chunks of the spire fell down almost hitting him multiple times as he descended but then something happened a searing pain pulsed throughout his body causing him to convulse and scream and he feel, losing control over his decent.
"Damm, Damm, Damm, Damnation" that was his only thought as he fell down hitting the ground with a hard thud.
He pushed thought the mind-numbing pain and ran outside the spire, running until he was far away enough allowing his body to fall as he continued to spasm and claw at the ground from the pain ultimately blacking out after 5 grueling minutes of the pain