It was the twenty-third day into the rainy season when he stood alone in the open city. Letting each drop drench what he was, what he couldn't be, and who he had been. A lifetime of regret in those short, seven years. Small footsteps pressing harder with each puddle splashed to form insignificant vibrations in the water were taunting her emotions. And each droplet sliding down her cheek reminded her of how much she couldn't bear to live without him.

"What if I told you I could fly?" he laughed to himself, his red hair clinging to his face.

"I wouldn't believe you," she clenched her small fingers to her palms.

"You should go back to the others," his face fell to his feet.

In what led to this encounter on that evening was none so surprising to either. It had been over a month since the passing of the late Fon Master, and it was both Anise and Luke who were walking with fallen eyes. Shadows hid what they felt, and only in this solitude would he hold her hand and tell her the hopeful lies she couldn't believe anymore.

And when he was good, Luke fon Fabre was very good.

He traveled all around the world of Auldrant to safely lower the land that was ascended in the sky. Without any real reason to support his actions, he believed in every one he loved. When someone needed a shoulder to cry on, he was there, offering his sleeve. To the world, he was a hero.

"Anise," his voice whispered in the dark. Her head immediately turned in his direction as she watched his feet. Step. Lift. Step. And lift into the air once more.

"Where is everyone else?" her voice asked in the consciousness of self-destruction. Her fragile heart was beating out of tune with his, and the more he spoke, the more reality seemed to be inevitable. All she could do was focus on herself as the minuscule girl that she was.

"They're all sleeping," he answered with a hand behind his collar. "I wanted to talk with you, if I could. At least before tomorrow." There was nothing in her memory of what was to occur on the following day. With concern in her voice, she asked him:

"What's going to happen tomorrow?"

He said nothing, but he sat beside her. An arm resting on his bended knee showed he was looking to the night sky. His eyes left the stars and followed to her young, mahogany irises before turning his face to meet hers. With nothing but a smile sliding over his lips.

"Y'know what? I can see the stars in your eyes, too," she felt her face's warmth in her cheeks and immediately rose her hand to meet with full force to his corresponding skin. But she restrained her impulse to say what her initial response wanted to be.

"That's because I'm so cute!" she stated with false pride. He dropped his shoulders and turned back to the sky without a word. She succeeded in driving away words she wanted to hear. Words that were worth more than any profit she so desperately needed.

"I wonder what it'd be like to ride the Albiore in the night sky," he thought aloud. "Or if way back, Yulia had plans to visit the other worlds out there." Anise shrugged her shoulders in response, lowering her head further into her knees as he continued. "I never really cared about the moon or the stars, but I never realized how beautiful they could be. Small from all the way down here, but so full of light that they can still reach us. It's incredible, don't you think?" By now, tears flooded her vision. A mixture of warmth and caused a feeling of burning. She clenched her arms with opposite hands resting on her knees as her muffled mess of a voice crawled to his ears from the space beneath her shattering stature.

"I hate them," she said. "So what if they're floating balls of light? They're just specks down here. They don't do anything useful. They just distract you from the single unique star: the sun. That's the only one that really matters."

"You don't really think that," he began to reach for her, "do you?"

"Don't touch me!" her voice broke in two. "I know I'll never be like Natalia, or Tear, or even Noel. I won't ever have a body like them. I know I'll never be that beautiful," she choked her last words as her insecurities fell through what she thought was a disguise. He took her hand and with the other, he pulled her shoulder, bringing her body to his. He said not a word as she gripped his shirt and cried into his chest. Tears for what she had lost and what she could never have.

As her tears ceased to fall, she felt a sudden awareness in where she was. She was in his arms. The only place in the world she so desperately wanted. Anise could only make an attempt to escape, but the moment her neck stretched straight to lift her fading head, his hand was lightly holding it to have her eyes meet his. "Look at me," he said as she tried to close her eyes. She could not disobey him, and so in her vision, all she could see were the translucent color of emerald. Such innocent and honest eyes.

"You are beautiful," he said without a tremor in his body or a shift of his glance. "It doesn't matter if you're small, insecure, or if your face is stained with tears. You are who you are." Luke placed his forehead against hers and smiled. "And the person I see before me, Anise, is you."

The two were together until the sun broke through the night. They talked about what they were feeling relating to the Fon Master's death and less serious subjects such as the romantic interests of the others. They talked about everything. And to Anise's surprise, he never left her side, his fingers laced with hers, casually sliding closer and closer.

And when he was bad, Luke fon Fabre was very bad.

The day was like any other. Anise's smile had genuinely returned with Luke's guidance and reassurance the night before, and everyone was enjoying the time in Malkuth's capital. Only he was walking alongside Tear, a good fifteen steps ahead of her. From what she could see, everything had returned to normal. And something in her heart fell for a moment when she saw them together, their tedious squabbles about nothing in particular except the other's attitude.

They all went their separate ways near the middle of the day, and when she tried to find him, Luke had already gone. Without asking anyone else, she decided to search for him herself. Red hair would not be difficult to find in Grand Chokmah (where everyone was light-haired), and she felt some confidence in herself that he was perhaps looking for her, too. But what she found wasn't what she wanted to see.

"Tear! Um," his voice trembled under the pressure. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while now, but…"

"Just say it," she shook her head from one side to the other.

"What would you say if I told you that I," he looked away from her empty gaze. "That I liked you."

"I'd say I like you, too," she laughed.

"That's not what I mean!" he spat, embarrassed. "That I wanted to be…with you." Her hand lifted lightly to create a wall over her open mouth. The one eye she exposed was wider than ever. He walked towards her with both arms surrounding her frame as she returned the gesture with tears streaming down her face to her chin.

Anise was horrified, and as she took two steps back from the sight, she ran. And she ran as fast as she could, never looking back to see Luke's gaze stare back at her with nothing but sorrow. All she could feel now was what she had done to them: she felt betrayed. As if all along, everything was some sort of false empathy just to coincide with the fact that they had something in common. That they were both feeling remorse for the loss of someone dear. And even if that were the truth, then what he had said the night before must have been another lie.

He was a replica. His existence was a lie.

It was the twenty-third day into the rainy season when he stood alone in the open city that afternoon. Letting each drop drench what he had done, what he could have done, and who he had broken. A life's time of regret in those short, seven years. Small footsteps pressing harder with each puddle splashed to form insignificant vibrations in the water. And each droplet sliding down her cheek reminded her of how much she couldn't bear to live without him.

"What if I told you I could fly?" he laughed to himself, his red hair clinging to his face.

"I wouldn't believe you," she clenched her small fingers to her palms.

"You should go back to the others," his face fell to his feet.

"Why?" she grit her teeth. "So you don't have to deal with me anymore?"

"I will fly," he said. "And when I do-"

"You'll take Tear with you," she tugged her skirt. "And you'll take her, and not me. I get it."

He was silent. Hearing the words spoken outside his head was all it took to finally see what was the truth and what was the lie. All this time, he had been afraid. A collection of repentance that he could never achieve. It was always in her eyes that he found a sense of escape from the everlasting remorse of his past.

"I knew I could never be like her," her breath grew faint. And when her spine bent to lower her entire being, she began to cry with an unstoppable force. He turned and saw her small stature begin to crumble. Just as fast as he called her name, he was supporting her to his own body. Tighter and tighter, all his crooked strength that he acquired was regained. Everything he felt he had lost was with her.

"What are you doing?" she yelled, squirming from his grip. "Let go of me!"

"I'm going to fly," his voice cracked in sadness as he grabbed her once more. "And when I do,

"I won't be able to bring you with me!"

And just as the lightning struck, so did the truth. Everything that he had felt was in his statement. He couldn't take her where he was going. He couldn't leave behind something he never had. She couldn't long for the love of someone who never loved her. But he did love her. More than anything. And it was only then that she knew. And all it took was just some conversation about the stars.

They were small, but their light was seen from the ground.