Shadows and Butterflies

'Well… this is a predicament.'

Sunny sneakily glanced at Seele, who was peeking off the side of the Sanctuary of Noctis with a horrified expression on her face. Under them was the Sky Below, which was an abyss that seemingly had no end.

Saint Tyris had tasked him with showing Seele around the Chained Isles… or maybe she only meant the Sanctuary of Noctis?

Either way, Sunny couldn't just abandon this duty, for two specific reasons. First of all, he had been caught eavesdropping on her conversation with Seele, so he didn't want to test his luck any further. Secondly, she was the Saint of the Sanctuary of Noctis.

That alone made going against her unwise.

The question was, where exactly should he take her? He had shown her the location of the residences granted to the Awakened, finding her a spare room in the process. After that, he showed her the market, before leading her to the northern part of the Sanctuary, in which the White Feather Clan was situated.

There weren't any more notable places on the island; none that he knew of at least. Sunny wasn't sure how much he should show to Seele, but he didn't want to do an unsatisfactory job. If he did, maybe there would be an execution occurring near the gateway of the Sanctuary…

In any case, he couldn't really figure out what to do next. So, he decided to ask his client!

"Anything you want me to show you?"

Seele looked back up at Sunny, still showing hints of fear at the possibility of falling into the Sky Below. She stared at the empty abyss for a second, before asking:

"Is there a flower field nearby?"

Sunny blinked in astonishment. He had expected her to ask if she could go somewhere with plenty of Nightmare Creatures, or wherever else psychotic killers tend to go.

Actually, her whole behavior recently hadn't been even remotely similar to when he had met her while she was a Sleeper. In the single minute he had talked to her, she had been seeming like she wanted to take any opportunity she saw so she could kill him, but did not for whatever reason.

While Sunny was showing her around the Sanctuary she was relatively silent unless he he talked to her first. She didn't seem shy, at least, he didn't think she would be based on how she had talked to Sky Tide. On the other hand, Sunny had to put on a sickeningly pleasant act as he interacted with the stoic Saint.

Rather, it seemed like she was more nervous about something. There was a large clock near the gateway so that Awakened could check the exact time, and Sunny had caught her burning her eyes into the hands of it. Seele seemed to be in a rush for something in the real world.

He wasn't sure what it was, but it must have been quite important.

Either way, she was much more serious and… normal. Completely unlike the crimson-eyed alter ego from before, who seemed to act out of some perverse hedonism.

It seemed that there was at least some truth to her flaw.

Sunny paused for a moment, somewhat hesitant to ask her why she wanted to see a flower field of all things.

Seele averted her eyes at his gaze, a hint of red on her pale face.

"…I just thought that it might be interesting. There aren't any where I'm from."

She lightly rolled the red band on her arm between her thumb and index finger.

"It's fine if you don't want to."

Sunny sighed. He had a hunch that seemed to be proven correct. As someone from the outskirts, such things that are taken for granted by most are very uncommon for him.

Considering that wherever Seele was from must have not been very well off, it would make sense that she would want to see such parts of nature that are inaccessible to her in the real world.

But still… a flower field?

"…I know a spot. Follow me."

Sunny happened to know of a floating island that had a flower field on it. It was relatively close to Iron Hand island, being seperated by only one landmass. It wouldn't be too hard to reach it.

It would be much more difficult to survive once they arrived.

Looking back at Seele — who was beginning to stand up from her seat at the edge of the island — he informed her:

"Where we are going, every enemy will be stronger than us. We're going up against monsters that could kill us in a single clean attack."

Seele raised an eyebrow, looking at him like he was some sort of idiot.

"Yeah, cuz our lives aren't worth as much as a few flowers. How could we possibly get through those monsters?"

She took on a sarcastic tone, seemingly baffled at how idiotic it would be to fight stronger enemies.

Sunny shrugged, pointing at his eyes.

"Just use your Aspect. It's basically meant for these types of situations."

She froze in her place. Her gaze grew distant, almost as if she was listening for something. After a moment, she simply shook her head.

"It's blurry, but I remember her meeting you when she was controlling my body. She'd probably try to cut you open the first chance she gets…"

"Is she talking about her Flaw? She can talk to it?"

Seele paused for a moment, before suddenly waving her hands.

"I mean—she's not really that bad! Uh… she doesn't really seem interested in hurting other people. Just you."

Seele seemed to have realized just how bad that sounded, if the way that she covered her face was any indication.

'…So if there were a hundred people to kill, I'd be first. Good to know.'

Although he thought that the way Seele defended the Flaw was a bit strange, he was a bit worried about the fact that she only had such a strong desire to kill Sunny himself. It was a bit strange…

A complicated expression was shown on Sunny's face.

"…So, why does she want to kill me?"

Sunny dryly asked as Seele closed her eyes. He wondered if she was talking to her flaw right now.

"She said the lines of death were all over you. More than usual."

'Honestly… she's practically just giving out all her information!'

Sunny was quite grateful for her naivety. At the same time, he felt kind of insulted, as he went through great lengths to keep his secrets a… secret.

He hadn't been all that successful recently, but it was about the principle of the matter!

Seele had a peeved expression on her face.

"Seriously, you're all she keeps talking about! "Reeks of death" this, "Will die a horrible death" that… is your Flaw this annoying?"

Sunny was slightly startled at the question, but quickly relaxed. It wasn't that intrusive of a question, so all he had to do was make sure she didn't pry with a follow-up question.

"…My flaw is pretty annoying, but I can work around it. Piece of advice: don't ask people about their Flaws. It's pretty rude to ask about someone's biggest weakness."

Seele tilted her head.

"…I don't think my Flaw is much of a weakness."

Sunny scoffed as he shook his head.

"No… it definitely is. Imagine I tried to kill you right now. You would have two choices: fight me without your Aspect, or fight me with your Aspect. If you do the first, you wouldn't be able to fight me effectively, leading to your loss. If you do the latter, then you are taken over by a being who has a fixation on killing me."

Sunny wasn't quite sure why he was going out of his way to explain this to her, but he brushed it off as a way to avoid taking responsibility if she ended up dying.

"At that point, I'd be facing a predictable enemy that has an obvious goal. As long as I'm cautious, I've already won."

Sunny pointed at her light purple eyes.

"It doesn't matter what your Flaw is. Anything can be abused as long as you know what it is you're abusing."

Seele didn't say anything for a second, before suddenly deadpanning.

"How long did it take for you to come up with that speech?"

Sunny blinked in confusion.

"Uh… I just made it up."

Seele sighed, clearly not believing him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

Sunny's eye twitched, clearly annoyed by her casual dismissal of his words. He was almost tempted to tell her that he can't lie!

"Anyways, just don't tell anyone about what your Aspect and Flaw do. You already made a pretty big mistake telling me about it."

Seele slowly nodded, seeming to have completely absorbed Sunny's words. He wondered how much training Awakened paid…

With that, Sunny's self-enforced duty of warning this newbie about the dangers of the Dream Realm was complete. Now he just had to take Seele to the flower field.

If she was willing to, at least.

"Do you still want to see the flower field? If you do, you won't get the chance to hold back."

The same was true for Sunny. Based on his notes in the Vessel of Remembrance, the island was practically infested with plant-like Nightmare Creatures, creating a jungle of corrupted lifeforms. Supposedly, the only safe spot would be the flower field itself, which was on the side opposite to where they would arrive.

The thought of his past self crossing through that horrific jungle was quite frightening. What had he even been doing there?!

Seele seemed to be deep in thought, before resolutely nodding her head.

'And here I was, hoping she'd change her mind. All this to look at some flowers?'

Sunny wondered what was going through Seele's head. Who in their right minds would risk their lives just to catch a glimpse at some plants — no matter how nice they looked on the outside, they were still apart of the same corrupted ecosystem as Nightmare Creatures.

Honestly, Sunny thought that she might have been just as insane as her flaw!

"…Are you sure that your flaw won't try to kill me?"

Seele didn't say anything, listening for the voice of her other self.

"…She said she'll hold off for now. She wants to see the flower field too."

Seele's eyebrows creased as she frowned, causing Sunny to grow slightly worried about whatever her Flaw had told her.

"Is something wrong?"

Seele shook her head.

"No… she's just being a bit of a jerk."

That did nothing to appease Sunny's worries, but he ignored it for now. He was quite curious about whatever her Flaw had said, but there was nothing he could do if Seele didn't want to tell him.

He paused for a second, suddenly coming to a realization.

"Hey… does your Flaw not have a name?"

Seele blanked out.

"A… name?"

Sunny sighed in exasperation.

"You know, just like how your name is Seele, and mines is Sunless. Oh, you can call me Sunny by the way."

Seele sent him an indignant glare.

"I know what a name is! I mean, wouldn't it take time to find a good one? I can't just half-ass this…"

Sunny had a cheshire grin on his face.

"Well, you can figure that out on your own time. It's not like I care all that much."

Seele scowled at his words as Sunny walked off.

"You can't be serious! You were the one who brought it up in the first place! You need to help out too!"

Seele hurriedly walked over to him, not wanting to undertake such a burden alone.

"Not my Flaw, not my responsibility."

Sunny responded in a carefree manner. Such logic couldn't really be refuted by mundane means.

"Yeah, it is! It's definitely your responsibility!"

"What! No it isn't!"

This exchange continued for a few minutes. Sunny was starting to feel exhausted from all the arguing, so he decided to end this with a single question.

"How is this my responsibility?"

Seele looked at him for a moment. She pursed her lips as she stared at the chain long chain connecting the Sanctuary to another island.

"I'm not gonna tell you that. You can ask the other me if you're so curious."

Sunny had a smug expression on his face. That was basically the same as saying that she didn't have a plausible reason.

He didn't say anything, instead opting to walk onto the massive chain. Seele followed him from behind, cautiously treading the steel links.

Now that he thought about it, they had argued quite a bit over practically nothing.

He knew he couldn't get along with this girl!

***

"You know, he was getting pretty friendly with her."

Sparkle added another stitch to the doll. She glanced up at Sid, a Shadow Caster who insisted on keeping her company as she set up her special dolls. Behind her was a small pile of dolls, each of which bearing a resemblance to Sparkle herself.

As for Red Herring herself, a couple beads of sweat were visible on her forehead. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, allowing her to not worry about her hair getting in the way of the process. Her usual smile wasn't completely there currently, as her lips were only slightly upturned.

Making dolls wasn't for the weak!

Leaning near her doorframe was a woman with dirty blonde hair. Sid had a cheeky grin spreading across her face.

"…Well, a friendly Sunny is completely different than what would normally be considered "friendly"."

Sparkle's voice was dryer than usual, having not drank anything in a while.

'Maybe Sunny could let me borrow the Endless Spring for a while…'

She immediately banished that thought from her slightly elation-intoxicated mind. Her little shadow tended to get caught up in some pretty dicey situations, so she couldn't exactly take away such a reliable source of water. Not even for a second.

Sid's grin only widened even more.

"They were practically cursing each other out. I heard her shout at him about "taking responsibility". The boss really moves fast."

Sparkle's eyes widened slightly. Her lips curled up a bit higher, feeling a little more elation.

'Look at him… actually developing social skills.'

To be fair, Sparkle wasn't much better off. The only difference was that she could control her body perfectly, which made her the ultimate actor.

Besides, acting was practically the name of the game when it came to her strange Aspect.

"…That's not the right reaction you know? You're supposed to get really jealous…"

Sid seemed to be quite disappointed that she couldn't get the reaction she wanted from Sparkle.

'They just never learn, huh?'

There was something of a tradition among the Shadow Casters, in which they try their best to fluster Sparkle in any way they can. So far, the only person who had succeeded was Sunny himself…

Of course, he hadn't told them how he was able to do it, so he remained the lone champion.

Sparkle hooked the needle between the seams of the doll, closing up a small opening.

"…Don't you think Sunny grows pretty quickly?"

Sid blinked, not quite understanding the nature of the question.

"I guess? He's definitely way taller than he used to be. Still pretty short though."

Sparkle chuckled.

"No, that's not what I meant. I'm talking about him as an individual."

"…He's just the same as always, isn't he?"

'I guess others would see it that way.'

Compared to the rest of the world, Sparkle knew him for what he really was. From a malnourished fourteen-year old with a talent for killing Nightmare Creatures, to an intergalactic criminal.

She understood the dark recesses of his mind, and knows about his deepest secrets. Secrets that he would kill, and has killed to keep.

'At this rate…'

It might not be now. It might not be for a few months. Maybe even a few years. However, Sunny would soon understand it despite his amnesia. Something that she herself didn't understand.

What he truly wanted.

Once that happened…

"…He won't need me anymore."

"Did you say something?"

Sparkle smiled, shaking her head in denial.

'That got dark pretty fast.'

Her elation-addled mind had completely sobered up. In a way, she was both joyful for him, yet also unsure of herself.

Once Sunny found his role in the world…

…What would be left for Sparkle?