"Why are you all looking at him?"
Silence.
Painful, drawn-out silence.
After nearly five minutes, Cassie finally spoke, her voice a mix of awe and disbelief.
"He's basically a human lie detector."
"Oh… no. That actually makes sense."
"I think we should introduce ourselves properly. I know who Sunny is. I know Cassie. But who are the rest of you?"
"Well, hi. Nice to meet you, Dawn. I'm Kai—you might've heard of me from the band Nightingale."
"Don't worry, buddy. I'm pretty sure everybody knows who you are."
He glanced slightly to the left, noticing a statuesque figure—an Amazonian sort of beauty. His voice softened with curiosity. "And you?"
"My name's Athena. But just call me Effie."
"Like the goddess. Nice. And what about you, Mr. Refined?"
"Han Li Caster. And yes, before you ask—I'm a Legacy."
"Yeah… that explains a lot. I already know who Nephys is, so we're good there."
"Well, I just want to say—it's nice to meet you all."
His gaze flicked sideways, narrowing slightly as it landed on Sunny.
"You did give them a proper greeting, right, Sunny?"
There was a beat of silence. Then Sunny blurted it out in a rush, words tripping over themselves.
"N-no."
Dawn let out a slow sigh. "I'm sorry for my idiot brother."
Nephys looked between the two of them, back and forth, confusion playing on her face like a puzzle slowly falling into place.
Well… Dawn had said his hair was originally black. But then again, so was hers. And really—who had ever heard of permanent dye?
Sunny, catching the look on her face, offered an explanation in that calm, almost-too-gentle tone people use with kids.
"We're not actually brothers. Or… not by blood."
"Oh…"
Soon, the air relaxed. They found calm in each other's presence.
They all knew what came next—many of them might die in the days ahead. But they didn't dwell on that. Not now. Some had spent weeks here, others months, yet all had tasted the weight of this place. And every single one of them wanted to leave.
So instead of dreaming about what might be—or mourning what never was—they chose to exist. To breathe. To be.
But if you looked closely, you'd see one absence in that crowd.
Dawn wasn't laughing. He wasn't relaxing. Because his mind… was elsewhere.
"The Bright Castle. A beautiful place. It truly is."
He stood alone beneath the echoing arches, taking in its fractured majesty—not for its beauty, but for its silence.
He sat cross-legged at the center of the throne room, eyes closed, body still.
All I want is to feel those emotions again.
Little by little, they returned. Glimmers at first. Flickers. Barely-there wisps.
But he wanted more.
Maybe it was greedy. Maybe he should've been grateful that even a fraction had returned after months of numbness. Months without joy. Without wonder. Without shock.
So many missing pieces.
"I miss them."
"If emotions make someone human… then right now, I'm less than that. And just the thought that I might be inching closer to those nightmare creatures…"
He shuddered.
"It fills me with dread."
So he focused.
Every laugh echoed like a flare in his soul, every whispered sorrow dragged his heart downward.
And then—
He felt.
A smile ghosted across his lips. Small. Earnest.
For the first time in months… Dawn felt human.
In his chest, it was as if a symphony had begun. The greatest musicians to ever live rose from the grave just to strum his heartstrings back to life.
The melody flooded through the gates of his soul, rousing that small, stubborn flame that still flickered inside.
"Hmm… hmm, hm… hm, hm hm… hmm…"
He hadn't even noticed he'd started to hum.
A quiet tune. Soft. Personal.
It carried him backward—through time, through pain.
Being adopted. Losing everything. Becoming a street rat. Meeting Sunny. Becoming brothers in all but blood. The nightmare desert. The desperation to survive. The buried truth that his end—his destiny—was never truly his to choose.
So many things. So many truths that would shatter someone else.
But not now. Not here.
Right now, Dawn was calm.
He didn't care if some twisted force pulled his strings. If his life… or death… was authored by something else.
He was just happy that he could feel again.
Because to him, there was no greater fear—
no greater punishment—
than dying and realizing too late…
that you became the monster you once sought to destroy.
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author's note:
info dump incoming fair warning: short version thank you all for even taking this story to 50K I never expected that and please bear with the upload schedule until I get used to uploading again
info dump:
Thank you all for just reading this I never expected it to reach this point I know that I'm a bit late to the 50K but nonetheless I still want to thank you all in a singular day 5000 of you guys read this that left me shocked I never expected to be so many of you
so from the bottom of my heart thank you so much and I know I may have abandoned the story for a month or two but I mean at this time I'm going to try to be more consistent so leave reviews comment your thoughts leave some power stones and add to your libraries
-phoenix out-