Chapter 33

Shadow sat on his bed, breathing heavily. Eclipse was sitting against a wall, sleeping soundly. Shiro was laying flat on the floor, having been knocked out by one of the pillow bullets. Jay managed to sneak out of the room, unscathed, after the fight broke out. Emperion was snoring in the middle of the room, three pillows piled on top of him. Shadow was the only one left awake. Thanks to his protective spell, nothing, including the pillows, was damaged. Shadow took a deep breath to calm down his beating heart as he smiled at the ceiling.

"Shadow? What are you smiling about?" Eclipse slurred as he began to wake up.

"Light sleeper?"

"Kind of." Silence.

"I was just thinking about all the fun I've had." he answered, his eyes glittering with joy. "I'm kinda starting to think becoming a fugitive was the best thing to happen to me."

"That sounds weird." Eclipse chuckled.

"I know it does. But if I wasn't caught, I wouldn't have met so many great people and made so many friends." Shadow explained. "There's Jay, Emperion, Silver, Scaldris, Solaris and you."

"You think of me as a friend?" Eclipse gave a small amused chuckle, sounding slightly surprised.

"I'd say we're friends. Don't you?"

"We literally met hours ago, and as I recall, we didn't really get off to a great start."

"And whose fault is that?" Shadow gave him a smug, knowing smile.

"I know." Eclipse closed his eyes as he stood up. Shadow stretched his arms and stood up as well.

"I want to see what's at the top of the mountain." Eclipse paused in his tracks and stared over at Shadow.

"Right now? In the middle of the night, or morning? Without telling anybody." Eclipse asked.

"Yup! You wanna come with?" Shadow asked, excitedly, a look of glee showing on his face. Eclipse hesitated.

"Somebodys gotta keep track of you." he mumbled to himself. "Sure."

"Yes!" Shadow exclaimed, his weariness gone. He ran over to the glass door and slid it open to take in the night air. Eclipse stuck a note on the door to the stairs before following him outside. Shadow took off towards the top of the mountain while Eclipse made sure to close the door before taking off after him. It was a clear night. The moon and stars shone brightly in the sky, making Shadow open his mouth in awe. Neither spoke a word during the long flight, wanting to keep the perfect silence of the night. Once the top was in sight, Shadow picked up his pace. He flew past the ledge and landed gracefully on top. Eclipse flew up beside him and looked up at Shadow.

"Well, you've seen the top. Are you satisfied?" Eclipse asked. Shadow lifted a shaky hand in front of him, his eyes full of awe.

"Look." he whispered. Eclipse looked in front of them to see a field of pretty pink flowers, each illuminating the area around them. The area they had landed on was like a little cut out of the mountain top. The rest of the mountain half circled the field and reached up above them on the other side. In the middle of the flower field was a perfectly round pond that wasn't that big. And just beyond the pond was a beautiful cherry tree in full bloom. Each blossom was glowing a pretty pink that matched well with the hot pink flowers surrounding it. As if mesmerized, Shadow began walking towards the cherry tree. Eclipse snapped out of his gaze when he saw Shadow.

"Wait, Shadow! We don't know anything about this place." he warned. Shadow continued anyway. Just as Shadow was about to step on the flowers, he jumped into the air and began to fly towards the tree. Just at the tree's base was a big flat stone. Two smaller stones led away from the tree and towards the pond. From up in the air, Shadow saw three coy fish swimming happily in the pond. He landed on the stone farthest from the tree and stared up at it in wonder. Eclipse landed carefully beside him and stared up at the cherry tree as well.

"It's so pretty." Shadow whispered. Eclipse looked up at Shadow to respond when he tensed up.

"Wait, Shadow... why are you crying?" Eclipse exclaimed. Shadow just noticed that tears were flowing down his cheeks.

"That's funny. What am I crying for?" he asked, as if to himself. He smiled in confusion and tried to wipe away his tears. He suddenly paused and lowered his hands.

"Shadow?"

"It was... a cherry tree... a lot like this one..." he started. Eclipse titled his head in wonder. "A few months after my father was killed, my mother took her own life by hanging herself. It was a winter morning and yet, one of the cherry trees still kept its blossoms. It was on that same cherry tree... that my mother died." His face turned towards the ground and he clenched his fists. He didn't try to stop his tears this time. Not knowing what to say, Eclipse looked away as well when he noticed something. He grabbed Shadow's arm and gave it a gentle tug. 

"Look. Over there." He pointed up towards the cherry tree. In the trunk was a small hole, and in that small hole poked out a little squirrel head. A few seconds later, another squirrel head appeared. As Shadow stared at the little squirrels, he slowly stopped crying. He walked up to the hole in the tree and gingerly stuck out his finger. He lightly petted the two squirrels in their heads and his face lit up like a little kid. Suddenly, a freezing gust of wind blew across the mountain top, making Shadow shiver from chills and sending blossom leaves drifting around. Some landed in the pond. Some on top of the pink flowers. And the rest left with the wind. Shadow turned eagerly towards Eclipse with a broad smile on his face.

"We need to bring the others here sometime!" he exclaimed.

"Visitors? I don't get visitors very often." a rough voice sounded from behind. Eclipse jumped, startled, as Solaris appeared without warning.

"S-S-So-So-Solaris? W-What are y-y-you doing h-here?" Eclipse stuttered.

"I live here."

"You live here?" Shadow turned towards Solarice with wonder. "Did you know the flowers would grow here? Or that there was a pond or the cherry tree?"

"I planted the flowers and made the pond, but I didn't know there would be a cherry tree up here." he admitted. An awed look crossed Shadow's face. Just then, Solaris noticed the tear marks that ran down his cheeks. "Why don't you come inside. I can treat you to some food if you'd like."

"That would be appreciated." Shadow accepted. He then turned towards Eclipse. "Come on, now."

"Maybe ask my permission before deciding for me." Eclipse grumbled through gritted teeth, upset, though he followed the two anyway. Solaris led them up to a pretty house. Cherry blossom leaves were painted on the walls and little planted bonsai lined the windowsills. The floor was covered in fluffy carpet that was soft to the touch. The kitchen was orderly and clean. The living room was spacious and had small couches surrounding a small table.

"Want anything to drink?" Solaris offered.

"Hot chocolate." Shadow accepted.

"Same." Eclipse agreed. Shadow flopped himself onto one of the couches and marveled at its fluffiness. He looked up at Eclipse with a sparkle in his eye.

"It's so soft!" He exclaimed quietly. Every trace of the vulnerable person he had been moments ago, crying in front of a cherry tree, was gone. He was back to his old cheerful self. Eclipse sat down next to him. Even though he didn't smile, Eclipse's face lit up. Shadow and Eclipse were bumping up and down on the couch as Solaris brought in two steaming cups of hot chocolate. He just sighed as he watched the two's childish behavior but didn't try to stop them.

"Solaris, how are your couches so soft and comfy? Are they brand new?" Eclipse questioned.

"I don't get visitors often." He explained simply, setting the cups on the table in front of them. Shadow reached for his cup and recoiled his hand immediately.

"Ouch! Hot." he grimaced, shaking his hand. Eclipse chuckled, reaching for his cup as well. He carefully picked it up with two fingers. He held it by the rim of the cup so as not to drop the cup nor overheat his hands. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Not only would you spill steaming hot chocolate everywhere but you would stain this perfectly white fluffy carpet." Shadow scolded.

"I don't want to wait for my hot chocolate to cool off." Eclipse grumbled, slowly lifting the cup up to his mouth. He took a sip and recoiled, puckering his face until he put the cup down on the table. Shadow gave him a smug smile as he leaned back on the couch.

"What's with that face?" Eclipse asked when he glanced over.

"I said it was hot." Shadow gloated.

"Yeah, well, you never said the hot chocolate was hot!" Eclipse countered.

"It's just common sense that if the cup is hot its contents is probably hotter! And it's called hot chocolate for a reason! It's not my fault if you're as dumb as a brick!" Shadow argued back, standing up. Together they bickered over the common sense of a cup of hot chocolate while Solaris idly sat next to them and watched them with affection.

"Not to intrude on this extremely important topic of discussion and debate, but have you guys picked which personal trainers you want to train under yet?" Solaris butted in. Eclipse and Shadow stared back at him, all the while grabbing onto each other's shirts.

"The exams just ended today. There's no way we got our papers yet." Shadow claimed. A thoughtful look crossed his face and he looked up at the ceiling with a finger on his chin. "Or would that be yesterday?"

"Maybe if you thought to add a mailbox to your house design you'd get them quicker." Eclipse sneered.

"It's not like you did it either! I bet you're one of the thousand idiots who forgot to put a doorbell into their design!" Shadow burst.

"Excuse me?" The two started to growl at each other and Solaris gave out a weary sigh.

"If you two kittens are going to fight, don't do it in my house." he complained.

"Solaris is right! Let's take this somewhere else." Shadow exclaimed. Without waiting for a response, he teleported into his training space along with Eclipse. "Now we can fight without restraint." Shadow smiled.

"Yeah." Eclipse smiled back.

"I know I told you guys to take it somewhere else but why am I here?" Solaris was sitting criss-crossed on the floor with a slouched back.

"Dang it, Shadow! I can't fight someone who can't control their magic!" Eclipse shouted.

"If you hadn't pushed my buttons I wouldn't have had the temper to forget, moron!" Shadow argued. The two started bickering again and Solaris let out another sigh. Just then, the door to the training room slid open and Jay stomped in wearing pajamas with a pillow under his arm.

"Stop bickering like two year olds and let me sleep!" he roared. Shadow and Eclipse froze on the spot and stared back at Jay. Shadow's eyes drooped and a fearful look crossed his face. His eyes began to water and he seemed to shrink in Jay's anger.

"I'm sorry." he apologized in a small voice. Eclipse looked from Jay to Shadow and back, seemingly confused.

"Is Jay really that scary?" he asked.

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Shadow whispered. He then took a deep breath. "Considering that both my parents are dead, one of my best friends tried to kill me and the only other person I hang out with is a numbskull and knucklehead, having Jay around is quite a reassurance. So it's frightening when he gets mad, which is a rarity." he explained, his innocent, terrified and timid self vanishing in a second.

"I don't need a lecture, I need sleep. Now shut up like a good doggy and let me get some sleep!" With that, Jay closed the door and left. A long pause followed.

"Did he just..?" Eclipse started.

"Yes, Eclipse. He just called me a doggy." Shadow finished. He then stretched and yawned. He walked over to the dial on the wall and raised it up to level six. "I'm exhausted. I'm gonna get some shut eye too."

"It's dangerous to sleep under magic sealing pressure." Eclipse commented.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it." Shadow yawned before curling up on the floor, and just like that, he was out cold.