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Stargazer had arrived at the place he promised to meet Sunburst at.
The horizon was a splash of different colors, the sun painting the edge with blazing oranges and pinks while the moon rose along with her soft, white glow. Their lights clashed, yet mixed in a strange beauty as the wind picked up the taste of sand and sea salt and spread it across the shore where Stargazer currently stood.
Crossroads' beaches were wonderful and peaceful. However, such beauty won't last long.
Sunburst's back was black against the setting sun, much like the current mood falling upon the world. The knight had talked about it to Stargazer- how Blackrock, with their iron-fists and military power, would soon surge into the other nations, Lost Temple first on their list as the rumors said so.
Sunburst couldn't accept that his homeland would be under attack- more so under the rule of a cruel nation. He'd decided to raise his burning blade, much to Venomshank's dismay, against the warmongers, and give them punishment according to his righteous will. This was the very reason he had called his dear friend to meet him- to give him a proper goodbye before setting off to a war he may not return from.
Stargazer was... almost against the idea itself. As he treaded across the sandy beach, footsteps printing out across the surface, he tried to hold back his opinions- afraid that if it were to spill, he'd destroy the man's heart before he left.
It wasn't just fear that the blue prince felt. In reality, it was concern, hatred, sadness, and love all jumbled in this complicated concoction that had stirred in his stomach for so long. He should have expected this, really. Sunburst was a knight, after all, and what fate did they have other than meeting death at the edge of her sword or protect the country until the very end?
Stargazer swallowed the thoughts forming in his mouth.
Here he was, steps away from the knight.
...
...
...
"Good evening, Sunburst..."
"Ah, there you are. I didn't think you'd come at all!
...
You are aware of why I wanted you to meet me tonight, am I right?"
They exchanged silences, their stares boring into each other. Stargazer felt so lost in Starburst's golden eyes, the determination in the later almost too suffocating to look into. Meanwhile, the knight was at loss of words when he saw the prince's tired gaze. He knew what he had done wrong, even if no one was at fault.
"As a knight, you, of course, must march into battle once your country calls for you. It is a noble cause really- one that I am not against," Stargazer said, smiling at his friend as he stood against the glow of the setting sun. "Where to? How long?"
"Lost Temple," Sunburst said, a plain, dark tone in his voice. It was almost indecipherable to the blue prince- why the knight had to speak that way. Was there something he was hiding? "How long- that, I'm not sure I can answer. Prince Stargazer, you do know war stirs everyone into disarray; even those who are not on the battlefield are brought into it."
"Yes, yes, I know," the blue prince muttered in response. "It's just that I find it so hard to believe my... dear friend... is going off to fight for his nation."
Sunburst cocked his head sideways at Stargazer as the prince made his way to stand beside him. As they both sat down on the sand, Stargazer talked. "Our childhood felt so distant; our teenage years like a flash. I can still remember the first time I met you in the courtyard of the palace. Your mentor, Venomshank, was training you against himself. After all, who was stronger than a diety?
But that is not my point.
I am just trying to say that-"
"You'll miss me." Sunburst cut off Stargazer's words, staring far into the mountain of clouds rolling across the ocean. The blue prince stammered to say something, and ultimately decided against expanding on his thoughts. "You'll miss me, and that is okay."
...
...
Just okay? Just well? How can Stargazer miss him and accept that he will miss him? Did Sunburst expect to treat him like a teddy bear he cannot keep anymore? Did the knight expect to miss him like the moon, there by the night and gone by the day? Did Sunburst think that he, himself, was simply an item to remember and never see again? If that was the case, Stargazer might as well dig into the basement in search for the lost toy, sail across the seas to chase the moon, or drag the knight by his arms just to keep him close.
The prince’s voice shook, his throat dry. “That is not how missing someone works, Sunburst,” he finally said. His regrets would start here, and there was no turning back.
“What do you mean, Stargazer?”
“I can’t just miss you like you’re something to give away, Sunburst! You’re not just some dust to sweep up and throw outside. You’re my friend! How can I miss you and act like I am fine with that?” Stargazer blurted out in a flurry. He was already standing up, his legs quivering in disbelief of the situation. Wow, he really did not think that this time would come did he?
Sunburst did not say anything yet, still sitting on the sand. The only response Stargazer got was the sound of the waves hitting the shore, sea foam dissolving as the silence grew thicker. “I am a knight, Stargazer. What can you miss about me?”
The prince, taken aback, scoffed at his friend’s response. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’ll miss every time we fought against each other, the way you always rose again despite feeling tired? Maybe I’ll miss whenever you accompany me to walk in the city’s marketplace, how you insisted on talking to me rather than just being my guard. Maybe I’ll miss every time we talked to each other in the palace gardens, hidden from our masters and the other servants…
Maybe I’ll miss… everything.
Everything about us— everything about you.
So, please, think about what you are doing. Just… please.”
Sunburst, shocked, stood from the ground yet didn’t face the prince. A slight blush spread across his ash-colored skin, coloring his cheeks a gentle rose. The knight would be lying to himself if he even thought that those memories did not spark something in him. He had, for the longest time, thought of the prince as more than his friend. Every opportunity he got with the prince was an opportunity he took. The one-on-one conversations, the flowers, the sights to various places across the world— that was the knight’s love. He’d thought he never had the chance with Stargazer, how despite potentially ranking up or becoming greater, the prince’s heart may not still be his.
Until now, he thought.
“Stargazer, I-I—”
“Just say that you’re leaving for war,” the prince spat bitterly, “it’d be much easier to say that, right? I can handle it much, much easier if that is what you are going to say.”
“I love you.”
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…
…
“What?”
Sunburst’s breath hitched. He turned to face the prince. Stargazer’s blue owl mask barely did anything to hide the tears already welling in his eyes, the empty stare dealing numbers to the knight’s heart. Damn it, Sunburst. Why did you confess at the last moment you two may have together?
Stargazer laughed at the confession, a sign that almost made Sunburst think that he was right about them being star-crossed.
Almost made, if it weren’t for the glimpse of the teary eyes.
The prince’s laugh slowly devolved into gentle sobs, then a full-on breakdown. He kicked the sand, sending the quartz grains into the waves for the ocean to claim, then ran to the knight and banged on his chestplate. “Why, just why now out of every moment we’ve lived together?!” Stargazer cried, his helpless tantrum pleading for fate to change the story. “You could’ve confessed when we were alone at the gardens, or when we were between alleyways in the city hiding from the public! You’re a fool to time, and a fool to know when to say the most important things!”
Sunburst couldn’t help but take in the suffering Stargazer was experiencing at the very moment. As the sunset slowly withered into night, and as the gentle breeze turned cold, the knight slowly raised his arms wrapped himself around the smaller prince. Eventually, the prince stopped banging on the knight’s armor and simply gave up.
There was no use going against his decision.
“I love you too, you know. And I am starting to regret ever loving you,” Stargazer said through his broken voice. “Please, I plead with you, don’t go. Think this through.
You are the best man I’ve met, and the worst man I’ve met.
You are the best to love, yet, you are the worst to love.
Please…”
“Stargazer,” Sunburst said, voice cracking. He couldn’t handle the pain, but he couldn’t cry in front of the prince.
Not right now
“My decision is made.”
The prince pushed himself away from the hug and looked away, fixing himself and taking off his mask and wiping the hot tears on his sleeve. Stargazer still couldn’t stop the sadness bawling out of his eyes, so he set off and walked away.
“Wait, please!”
Sunburst ran to the prince and held him by the shoulders. SFOTH, he knew they’d both regret this. But selfishness spoke first in the knight’s heart as he pulled Stargazer in by his arms and cupped his cheeks, wiping a tear away from his lips.
Stargazer immediately felt Sunburst’s chapped lips on his own, hot breath brushing past his lips and ghosting over his tear-stained cheeks. It was so sudden, the act that the knight had pulled him into. The prince didn’t know what to feel and how to feel, but he let himself melt into the shared moment, same with the knight going deeper into the kiss. The prince tasted so sweet– salty, too, with the kiss of the sea in his mouth. A teardrop fell on the prince’s nose, a sign Sunburst was crying beyond their closed eyes.
Soon, this sweet taste in his mouth would turn bitter.
The knight was the first to pull away, his lips ghosting over the prince’s for a moment before pressing his forehead against the shorter man’s forehead. He held his left hand with promise, and his face with delicacy.
“Remember me,” Sunburst said, “but don’t wait for me.”
And with that, Sunburst walked off to the distant shore, leaving Stargazer alone in the twilight-lit beach. The moon had risen just enough to peek in between the palace towers of Crossroads and the elevated houses, casting her light and making long, dark shadows on the beach. The waves, with their gentle ease, lapped against the shore on and on, much like the prince as he waited for his knight to come back.
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Stargazer broke down once more on the beach, betrayed by the stars he prayed to.